Nonexistent
by 0Wishful-Thoughts0
Summary: Roxas doesn't believe in love. Unfortunately for him, his hyperactive twin brother, crazed besties, Facebook, and the new girl all say otherwise. What Roxas doesn't understand won't hurt him. Probably. But the secrets corrupting everything he loves will.
1. Prologue

**A/N: **_**Happy RokuNami Day!**_ :D In honor of the special day, I'm releasing this idea that I came up with (rather last-minute may I point out). It's my first ever _**RokuNami**_ fanfic, which makes this extra special.

So now let's enjoy the lovely _**RokuNami**_ celebrations on this amazing 28th of March.

**Minor Editing Done:** July 9, 2011

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _Prologue_

Ever since I was seven, I knew that it was nonexistent. Now I know what you may be thinking. Seven is too young an age to understand something so complex. But I was always told that I was smarter than most children my age. Okay, well "most children my age" only consisted of my older twin brother, Sora, but it still says something.

Sorta.

Anyway, at the young age at seven I guess you can say that my innocence was corrupted. I would say Sora's too, but I don't think that was the case. At the age of seven, I realized that the words "I love you." were empty ones. They meant absolutely nothing.

When Mom went on that business trip, Dad had spoken the dreaded three words, "I love you." I remember, Sora and I were disgusted when he gave her a quick kiss before she had to leave for her flight. I mean you can't blame us. We were only kids. Still, I remember feeling happy because Mom and Dad loved each other, and they loved me and Sora, and we loved them, and everything was supposed to be perfect.

Wrong.

Our house was just a few blocks from the elementary school. Five minutes tops on our bikes. So we would always bike together, insisting that we could handle ourselves since all the fifth-graders could ride bikes without their parents. We thought that if we acted like them, it would make us cool. Okay, actually our neighbor, Axel, told us that it would make us cool. Dad didn't have a problem with it, but Mom did. And I mean, that's understandable. We were little kids. Without adult supervision, we'd probably get ourselves kidnapped or something.

So being the caring mother she was, she arranged for some of the other kids our age on our street to all bike to school together. She said that if it was so important to us to bike to school without an adult, then we should at least travel in a large group. There were ten of us. Riku, Hayner, Pence, Kairi, Olette, Tidus, Xion, Selphie, and Sora and I.

And we didn't know it then, but Kairi's mom was assigned the task of secretly following us in her car.

Anyway, one day as we biked home from school, Sora said that Riku had invited us both over to his house to play. I remember that I was really excited, but being the innocent child I was, I insisted that we ask permission from Dad first. Sora thought I was being lame, even as a Second-Grader I could tell that. So he went on ahead to Riku's house, saying that if I thought it was such a big deal, I could ask Dad myself.

I didn't really mind. I simply saw it as an opportunity to get Sora in trouble for not coming with me to ask, he being the older twin and all.

But when I rang the bell to my familiar household (I wasn't responsible enough to be trusted with actual keys), no one came to open the door. This was extremely out of the ordinary, because I knew that Dad would be home. Today wasn't a babysitter day, I was sure of it.

Confused, I kept ringing the bell. Over and over, faster and faster. It took a while, but eventually someone came to answer it.

As soon as that door opened, the bitter, harsh scent of alcohol flooded my nostrils. I immediately turned my head away as though that would keep the smell away from me, but it didn't do much. Warily, I turned my head back to face the person that had finally opened the door.

It was Dad in his underwear. He looked really upset, like when he was doing something important but me and Sora interrupted him. But when his eyes finally met mine, his expression dropped, and his face seemed to pale.

I remember being even _more_ confused. To my knowledge, Dad was only ever in his underwear when it was just him and Mom in their room.

Then, this lady only wearing _her_ underwear shows up, and wraps her arms around his neck, whispering to him over and over, "Do you still love her? Because I think that you'd rather love _me_."

I remember that my heart practically stopped beating. And I didn't even need to look at my Dad to know that he had done something absolutely unspeakable.

I dropped my bike there and ran to the safety of my older brother.

When Mom came home, it wasn't long until she found out. I guess I was openly showing the fact that I was extremely traumatized, and I hadn't realized the severity of the situation when I told her what was bothering me.

I didn't know, I didn't understand.

In the next month, Mom and Dad and me and Sora and weren't living together anymore. Sora was staying with Dad, and I was staying with Mom.

It was scary.

I remember that Mom was so _sad_. She stopped smiling that reassuring smile of hers, and she cried continuously for what felt like forever. And I was little. I didn't entirely understand what was happening. Mom was just sad, and I suppose I took it as my cue to be sad too.

Sora and I were both there sitting in the audience when our parents battled each other for custody over the two of us. We weren't sure what was happening, but I remember being really scared and holding my brother's hand tightly. Sora, he was angry at me. He whispered to me saying that it was my fault that Mom and Dad split up. And I bawled right there on the spot. "I didn't do anything wrong! I just told Mommy the truth!"

I know that Sora didn't mean to make me cry. In his own way, he was just trying to sort out his own feelings. His frustration, confusion, anger, and sadness. So in the middle of the one of the lawyer's speeches, everyone turned to the two of us. They watched how I bawled, and how Sora's lip quivered slightly before he burst out into tears as well. They saw us hug each other for dear life and heard us wail loudly. They saw first-hand how destroyed we felt.

I guess you could say that our Mom ended up winning that battle. Sora and I were to live with our mother, and every other week, we'd move to our Father's house. It wasn't that big of a deal since Dad was staying in an apartment about fifteen minutes away from Mom's house, so it wasn't like we had to go to another school or something while we stayed with him. We just couldn't ride to school with our friends anymore.

Pretty soon, Dad moved away.

Mom had just said that Dad had moved far away, so we wouldn't get to see him as often. Sora seem more upset over this fact than I did. To be honest, ever since I saw my father and that. . . that _woman_, I've always felt a little. . . scared of him. The fear exists even today.

We still got to see our Dad though. But only on our vacations from school, and even then, we'd never spend the whole thing at Dad's place. During Winter Break, he'd have us for three days tops before we'd go home to celebrate Christmas and New Year's with Mom.

But when we were around twelve, it all just seemed to stop.

Suddenly, Mom told us that we wouldn't be seeing Dad anymore at all. She didn't give us a reason why, and I didn't press for it. And though Sora still loved our Dad more than my mother and I combined, even he knew that it was a subject that we should just drop. . . But it didn't stop him from crying about it before he went to sleep.

And that made me kind of glad that I didn't tell Sora the truth about that fateful day in Second Grade when I came home to see Dad with another woman. I never have, and I don't think I ever will.

To this day, I don't think that I've managed to forgive my father. How could I? He destroyed our family, he made Mom and Sora just so freaking _sad_. I can honestly say that it's difficult for me to conjure up a single good memory with my Dad. I know that they're probably there, somewhere in my heart clouded with hatred, but they're still there. And honestly, the most vivid memory I have of my Father is in the courtroom, when he looked absolutely broken as he returned my Mother's glance of hatred.

So what _is_ love? Dad had said that he loved Mom, didn't he? But didn't he also say that he loved that pretty much naked woman that was in our house? How many other people did he say that he loved? I'm sure there were more. Every time that he said that he loved someone, was the love really _that_ empty?

I know that you're probably thinking that I'm blowing this whole thing out of proportion, but that's not the case. You're probably thinking, "Seriously, dude? Your Dad's probably the only person in the world that's done that." And you're wrong. Because I'm sure that there are thousands of _other_ people, _just like him_. And I think that scares me.

When people say that they "love" each other, are they sure that they know what it means? Doesn't love always lead to happy endings? Doesn't love mean that you'll do _anything_ to make someone happy? So doesn't that mean that love only exists in myths, fairy tales, and overdramatic movies and books?

What only exists in life is infatuation. Infatuation masked by the word, "love."

So really, all "love" is, is a charade. A false picture. Empty words.

All love is, is _nonexistent_.

* * *

**A/N:** So what do you think? Interesting enough? Haha, I think everyone can guess who's going to end up saving poor Roxie from his little hole of depression. XP

She probably won't be introduced until either the end of Chapter One though. Ah well, please review! :D


	2. The Last Day of Summer

**A/N: Hello there again! I really don't have much to say in this Author's Note this time around, but I'd like to thank ****CupcakeLerman**** for being the first reviewer of this story. ^^ Haha, love ya Cuppie! :D**

**And thanks to all the people that added this story to their alerts, that's pretty cool too! :D**

**Disclaimer: I do **_**not **_**own Kingdom Hearts. . . or the Victoria's Secret scent, "Pure Seduction" XD**

**Minor Edit **as of April 9, 2011

ANOTHER **Minor Edit** as of July 9, 2011

ANOTHER **Minor Edit** as of August 27, 2011.

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _The Last Day of Summer_

"Roxas? Get your _ass_ out of bed right now!"

I groaned, grabbing the pillow from under my head and covering my face with it. "Bleaf ve alawn, Sowa."

Though I couldn't actually _see _him do it, I could practically _feel_ him roll his eyes at my behavior.

I say that its common sense.

Sora insists that since we're twins, we have the powers of telepathy.

Yeah, just don't listen to him.

"Roxas. It's the last day of Summer vacation. Are you really going to spend it cooped up in your room the whole day?"

Though I was still extremely tired, I forced myself to pause and think about it, "What time is it?"

"It's four o'clock in the afternoon."

My eyes widened and I quickly jumped out of my bed, still taking the time to smack Sora as hard as I could with my pillow before stomping around my room angrily to get dressed. "You _idiot_! You pick _now_ to wake me up? The day's practically over!"

He didn't respond with words, and simply laughed at my antics. This wasn't funny. Today was important! It was supposed to count for something! I grit my teeth before throwing a dirty shirt at his face. "You pervert, at least get out of my room while I change!"

Sora laughed. _Again_. I swear, sometimes this kid was too happy for his own good. He made his way behind me before slapping my back a little _too_ enthusiastically. "Aw, poor Roxie. Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

I shot him a glare before mumbling the first curse words that came to mind. Of course, this led to Sora screaming, "Potty mouth! Potty mouth! Little ol' Roxie's a potty mouth!"

I honestly didn't understand how he was supposed to be the _older_ brother.

Not knowing what else to do, and still stuck with that grumpiness you get after someone wakes you up, I pushed him out of my room, ignoring the cackles that were escaping my older brother's mouth. After slamming the door shut, and grabbing my clothes to change, I heard a banging coming from the hallway outside my room.

"Hey Roxas, you might wanna check your phone!" Sora yelled out before snickering maniacally.

Now somewhat confused, I made my way to the desk in my room and unplugged the phone that I had left to charge overnight. What phone may you ask? The Samsung Focus, baby! That's right, be jealous.

Since I was still in that "Oh my God, I need to hurry up!" mode, I quickly pressed he "unlock" button on the side of my phone, my eyes quickly darting to the bottom of the screen where several of my notifications would be listed. That's when I saw _it._

_8:17 am_

"SORAAAAA!"

* * *

"I hate you."

"Yeah, I love you too, brother dearest."

"Go die in a hole."

My older brother's bright eyes shifted to mine, a frown tugging at the edge of his lips. "Aw, I was just trying to help you out, Roxie. You probably wouldn't have woken up if I didn't pull that on you."

I shot him a glare, and scowled at the dreaded nickname. Yet, somewhere deep inside of me, I knew that Sora was right. I mean, he had good intentions. He just wanted this to be one of the best days ever. I think.

I'd better just keep telling myself that.

"Yeah, yeah. Where are we off to now?"

Sora shot me a grin. "Why don't you focus on keeping up with me, instead of worrying about where we're going. Enjoy the ride, man!" He threw his hands up in the air dramatically at that last sentence, before zooming ahead of me on his skateboard, still laughing all the way.

I tried to fight the small smile from appearing on my face, but it was useless. My brother's emotions just seemed to be contagious. With a little more energy than before, I pushed harder off the ground and effortlessly caught up to my older twin. His eyes shifted to me before jumping with his skateboard, and beginning to grind on one of the nearby railings. The smile was still etched on his face, but his eyes had a kind of menacing glint to them, challenging me to do better.

I playfully rolled my eyes before scoffing. The battle of the skateboards had just begun.

After about hour or so of racing and skateboard tricks, we finally fell to the ground, laughing like idiots. "I'd say I totally won that one."

I playfully punched him on the arm. "What're ya talking about? Weren't you the one that fell and ripped a hole in his jeans?"

His brows furrowed, and he immediately turned his attention to examining his pants. Instantly, his eyes widened and he groaned in despair. "Aw, man! These were new too," he said, a scowl quickly taking place on his features. "Dammit, and I think that these were the expensive ones!" He sighed dramatically before clumsily falling to the floor, and sticking up the leg that had the damage on it. "Aw, crap. It's big too! How did I _not_ notice that?"

I couldn't help but laugh at my brother. "C'mon, Sora. They're just pants!"

Sora got up into a sitting position, bent the "damaged" leg and leaned his arm against it, head resting on his hand. He shot me a glare, before a slow smirk appeared on his face. I couldn't help but furrow my brows, curious as to what was passing through his mind. "You know, I guess you're right." I couldn't help but smile slightly in relief. "I mean, at least I didn't step in dog poop!" He pointed towards my shoe, before falling to the ground, laughing hysterically.

My eyes widened, before an expression of absolute disgust took over my face. "Aw, no! These were new!"

"You. . . Feel my. . . Pain!" Sora managed to exclaim in between his laughter.

"No! This is worse! Shoes are _much_ more important than _jeans_!"

An expression of mock shock took over Sora's features. "What're you talking about? You can walk around the world shoeless and no one really cares, but I mean. . . walking around _pants-less? ! _Oh, the absolute _horror!_"

I rolled my eyes, my brain scrambling for a comeback.

"Oh my _gawd_, what is that _smell_?" The over-dramatic and seemingly fake girly attitude caused both me and Sora to look away from each other, the two of us turning our attention to the newcomer.

"Aw, c'mon! It's not _that_ bad, Olette!" I exclaimed, a childish pout drawing itself onto my features as I crossed my arms.

"I think Olette's right this time. Roxas, what the _hell_ did you step in?"

Sora snickered at my shocked expression. "Not you too, Hayner!"

Hayner and Olette laughed, for what reason, I think you know. I mean, all _three_ of them were laughing at me.

The childish expression still on my face, I exclaimed in an exasperated voice, "Well, Sora has a rip in his pants!"

The two newcomers merely gave me and Sora a curious look before cracking up again. Some part of me felt like scowling, but I knew that if it was any _other_ person in this situation, I would be laughing my head off too.

Sora didn't take their laughter to any offense, but the mischievous glint in his eye was warning me that whatever he was going to say was _not_ going to be good for my ego. Swiftly, without even _thinking _about it, I pulled off the infected shoe and threw it at my brother.

"AH! GET THE GROSSNESS OFF OF ME!" I scrambled away from my screaming brother, watching as he thrashed about. "C'mon! First my jeans, now a contaminated shoe_! ?_ You guys, I liked this shirt!" His pathetic whine only made Olette and Hayner laugh harder, and I merrily joined in their cheerful amusement. After a moment or two, my poor brother muttered, "Ugh, now I have to go home and take a _shower._"

By now the laughter had died down, and Olette crinkled her nose playfully, a giggle threatening to escape her lips. "You haven't showered? That's not anything new for _you_, Sora."

Must I say it? The laughter started up again, but this time on a lesser scale. I guess we were beginning to laugh ourselves out.

Sora scowled, raising the impure shoe as though he were about to throw it at the orange-clad girl, making her shriek and hide behind Hayner, who of course blushed. But as I had guessed, Sora was too kind to do such a mean thing. He chucked the shoe in some other direction, and I couldn't help but notice that the passerby on the street were looking at us like we were crazy. I grinned cheekily at them, making them quickly turn their stares away.

That's right. Be scared of the creepy smiley kid across the street.

"Oletteeeeee," we all turned our attention to Sora who was yelling the girl's name in a whining voice, stretching it out for an impossibly long time. "I swear, I took a shower this morning! But now I have to waste five minutes taking _another_ one! Five minutes out of the _last day_ of _Summer vacation_!"

"Aw, I'll help you out, Sora." The girl giggled, and slowly made her way towards my increasingly pitiable brother. It was only when I saw what she was holding behind her back that I grinned devilishly.

Honestly, Hayner needed to hurry up and ask the girl out. He was obviously infatuated with her like some crazy psycho, and if he didn't make a move soon, someone else would probably get her. Not that I'm being mean, just my honest opinion.

Sora's grin was so bright that it probably could've supplied the entire world with energy for a whole _decade_. "_Really_? Aw, Olette you're too ni-"

Before my poor brother could finish his sentence, Olette pulled out the feminine fragrance bottle from behind her back and sprayed my brother like there was no tomorrow. The look of horror on Sora's face sent me and Hayner cracking up. To top it all off, Olette bent over Sora, and dramatically whiffed the air around him. "Ah, the wonderfully feminine scent of Victoria's Secret!"

"Aw, man! My day keeps getting worse and worse!"

"Look on the bright side, Sora. At least you don't smell like dog shit anymore."

"Shut up, Hayner! Now I smell like. . . like. . ."

"It's called _Pure Seduction_ by Victoria's Secret, Sora." Olette answered for him with an innocent grin.

If it was possible, Sora's face looked even _more_ terrified. Olette, Hayner, and I resumed our laughter at my feminine-smelling brother that sat on the ground a few feet away from us. It took a while, but eventually his face lit up again in that signature smile of his. "At least I don't have to shower anymore!"

Ah, Sora. Always looking on the bright side.

* * *

So apparently, Selphie had sent out a text message to everyone for an end of Summer pool party at her house. It was only after Hayner took us all out for breakfast that Olette explained that the party was going to start at 1:30 and go on until whenever. Hayner then told us that he thought it would've been a cooler idea to go to the beach on our last day, but Olette reminded him of the long distance and the fact that though we were all Seniors only Riku had a car, and we would all be too squished to survive the few hours it took to reach our destination.

"How come we didn't get the memo?" Sora laughed nervously at my question, causing me to look at him skeptically. "Sora. You have an explanation?"

The nervous laughter continued before he finally answered, "Well, I kind of left my phone back at the house, and I put your phone on silent in case you had an alarm that would wake you up. You know, that way I could do it myself since I'm such a kind. . . caring. . . _loving_ brother."

I rolled my eyes, a small smile on my lips since I found it funny that Sora thought I would be angry at him. I would never be angry over something so silly like that.

Okay, maybe I would, but it doesn't matter! I'm not angry now, am I?

"Sora, who in their right mind would have an alarm set during _Summer vacation?_"

Realizing that I was only teasing him now, the nervousness was immediately wiped off his face. "Well, Olette for one!"

The girl blushed, but shrugged it off. "What can I say? I like to get up bright and early."

I just looked at the girl in shock. "Who in their right mind would want to get up _early_ during _Summer vacation_?"

Olette merely rolled her eyes. "I always feel like I've wasted precious vacation time when I wake up late. In those four hours I wake up earlier than everyone else, I can get more things done! Besides, I kind of need to wake up early 'cause you know. . ."

I opened my mouth to ask her what she could possibly need to get done so early, before a look from Hayner caused me to remember and shut my mouth.

Olette was an orphan. She lived with her sick, elderly grandmother.

The table immediately got quiet, no one really knowing what to say. Olette's grandmother had suffered from a heart attack a few months after Olette's parents died in a car crash four years ago. Two years later, she had a seizure, followed by a stroke. When she had been allowed to return home last year, Olette's grandfather, her husband, passed away. Her grandmother was still recovering from everything, so Olette took charge of taking care of it all. Making the meals, cleaning the house, giving her grandmother her medicine, taking her blood pressure, all that stuff. It couldn't possibly be easy.

"Hey Olette, we better get going if you still want me to buy you that new bathing suit."

Sora and I smirked at the blonde, causing him to blush and look away. Olette didn't seem to notice though, and grinned. "Oh, right! I completely forgot. We'll see you guys at the party, kay?"

* * *

"Hey Roxas, how many people do you think are going?"

I turned to look at my brother who was sprawled out on top of the sofa. Our mom, being the world-famous Aerith Gainsborough, was out on another business trip, so it was just the two of us. "I dunno. Probably the whole gang."

Sora grinned. "This is going to be awesome."

I nodded. "Yeah, I think so too."

I bent over to slide off my shoes when my eyes widened in absolute horror. "Sora. We never retrieved my lost shoe."

Sora turned to me, his face a mixture of both humor and mock terror. "Oh no! What are we ever to do?"

I got up to punch him (hard) on the arm. "Dude! That was my new shoe! We have to go out and get it. You just _had _to chuck it to God knows where!"

To my surprise, my brother chuckled. "Hey, it's not my fault that you just noticed that your damn shoe was missing now. How do you _not_ notice that?"

I scowled, realizing that he was right. "Whatever, c'mon let's go." Sora shook his head, angering me further. "Well, why the hell not?"

"Roxas. That shoe is all crusty and gross with dog poop. No one's gonna _want_ to touch it. Well, except you I guess. We can pick it tomorrow after school."

I frowned at his logic, but at the same time I understood what he meant. With a sigh, I fell to the floor in defeat and mourned the loss of my shoe.

Since Sora had already started to channel surf on the T.V., I took it as my chance to go on the Facebook app on my phone.

* * *

**Roxas Hikari:** How the hell do you go four hours ago without noticing that you're missing a shoe?  
**Sora Hikari**, **Riku Takama**, and **126 others** like this.

**Sora Hikari: **You forget to mention that it was your amazing brother who chucked the shoe to, as you said, "God knows where" ;D  
**Tidus !#$**, **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** and **58 others** like this.

**Roxas Hikari: **Sora, you idiot. That's not supposed to be a good thing. You know what? When we go hunting for my shoe tomorrow, I'm going to make *you* pick up my icky shoe and CLEAN it.  
**Kairi Soto**, **Tidus !#$**, and **79 others** like this.

**Sora Hikari: **DISLIKE. D: Roxas, you wouldn't!

**Roxas Hikari: **Wrong, my friend. I would.  
**Riku Takama**, **Axel ohmygawdimonfire**, and **119 others** like this.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Sora Hikari** needs to spontaneously combust before **Roxas Hikari** forces him to pick up and CLEAN his icky, impure, contaminated, GROSS shoe.  
**Axel ohmygawdimonfire**, **Tidus !#$** and **17 others** like this.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** I can help you out with the spontaneous combustion part. ;D  
**Roxas Hikari**, **Demyx Nocturne**, and **79 others** like this.

**Sora Hikari:** Ah, Axel! Don't TOUCH ME. (Even though we know you want to)  
**Riku Takama**, **Kairi Soto**, and **45 others** like this.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** Sora, Sora, Sora. Unlike *you* I don't swing that way. *I* have a girlfriend, remember? It's alright, don't be jealous. One day you'll find the person that was meant for you.  
**Larxene Flash**, **Demyx Nocturne**, and** 83 others** like this.

**Sora Hikari:** . . .Well you know what? SHUT UP.

**Riku Takama:** Alright. Sora? That was the *worst* comeback ever.  
**Axel ohmygawdimonfire**, **Roxas Hikari**, and **27 others** like this.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Selphie Tilmitt** is getting ready to throw the awesomest party in the entire world! If you're not busy, be at my house at 1:30. ;)_  
_**Kairi Soto**, **Riku Takama**, and **78 others** like this.

**Tidus !#$: **Aw yeahhh! Its partytime peoplez!

**Selphie Tilmitt:** Tidus, I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that it's weird that you put in random symbols as your last name.

**Tidus !#$:** Aw, don't be a killjoy Selph. It gives me some sense of originality. Besides, it's a new trend I'm starting! :D

**Tidus !#$: **You know what, don't even respond to that. Any of you. I'm almost positive that you'll say something mean, and I do *not* want to be in a bad mood on the last day of Summer. Sooo. . . .Stop facebooking, and keep on working on making this Summer party awesome! :D

**Riku Takama:** Pressure much?

**Kairi Soto:** Really, Selph? "my *house*"? Your place is more like a freaking MANSION!

**Sora Hikari:** The bigger the better. Thats my motto!

**Riku Takama:** Gee, Sora. We all knew that you swung that way, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't expect you to admit it to the world. ;)  
**Roxas Hikari**, **Tidus !#$**, and **94 others** like this.

**Tidus !#$:** Damn you Riku. That was *my* line.

**Sora Hikari:** ROXAS. YOU'RE MY BROTHER. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ON *MY* SIDE. And screw you Riku. Only *you* could turn something so innocent into an innuendo. *shudders disgustedly*

**Roxas Hikari: **What can I say? If I had gotten on earlier, I would've said the same thing.  
**Riku Takama**, **Axel ohmygawdimonfire**, and **17 others** like this.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Roxas Hikari** wrote on **Axel ohmygawdimonfire**'s wall.  
Axel, why the hell did you change your last name? Don't tell me that Tidus' crazy trend is catching on.  
**Tidus !#$**, **Sora Hikari**, and **23 others** like this.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** Why, Roxas. I have no idea what you're talking about. We all know that Tidus isn't creative enough to come up with something so awesometastic unless he copies it from someone who's a pure genius. *cough*ME*cough*  
**Roxas Hikari, Riku Takama**, and **54 others** like this.

**Tidus !#$:** DISLIKE. Axel, you pyro, stop making things up.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** Kid, don't lie to yourself. You don't want to challenge the *MASTER*.  
**Roxas Hikari, Kairi Soto**, and **3 others** like this.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Tidus !#$ **thinks that **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** is a meanie.  
**Axel ohmygawdimonfire**, **Roxas Hikari**, and **27 others** like this.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Kairi Soto **has a surprise for everyone that's attending **Selphie Tilmitt**'s party. . . So you all better go!  
**Selphie Tilmitt**, **Sora Hikari**, and **29 others** like this.

**Tidus !#$: **Oh gawd, the suspense is killing me. Well actually, I'm just really excited for the party. XD  
**Sora Hikari**, **Axel ohmygawdimonfire**, and **17 others** like this.

**Sora Hikari:** Haha, well we're lucky. Twenty minutes to go you guys! ;D I think that its easy for me to say that I'm not the only one that's stoked.  
**Roxas Hikari**, **Selphie Tilmitt**, and **62 others** like this.

* * *

Sora and I were all smiles when we arrived at Selphie's hous- ahem. I mean, _mansion_. It was ridiculous. Her mom finally becomes a famous musician, and Selphie moved a couple of neighborhoods away to the fawnceh houses. But, hey. Who could complain, right?

The thing was _huge. _It was the color of Orange Sherbet ice cream (I'm sorry, I don't have an extensive vocabulary when it comes to colors), and was five stories high. Okay, what kind of house is _five_ stories high? Well, apparently Selphie's.

Carelessly throwing our skateboards in her front lawn, we ran towards her open front door, following the music that was blasting from what could only be her pool.

Yeah, even though we had planned on getting to the party early, we arrived about an hour late.

But as soon as we passed through those fancy doors she has separating her actual house from her pool, we were swarmed by a million of our friends. Okay, maybe that's a little overdramatic, but you know what I mean. I couldn't help but notice that there were probably another two million people that I didn't know. Damn, Selphie was more popular than I thought.

"You guys are LAAAATE!"

"Dude, how long does it take to put on your clothes?"

"Well, I guess we can forgive you this one time. Kairi hasn't even shown up yet!"

"And she said that she had a surprise for us!" Tidus added, a childish pout on his face.

"Then again, Hayner and Olette aren't here yet either. . .," Xion added with a smirk.

We all knew what the next thing to say was, and all of us were internally debating whether or not we had to say it. It was Sora who finally decided to shout it out to the heavens before cackling merrily, "Wherever you guys decided to do it, I hope you're using protection!"

The rest of the party joined in with his laughter until our faces turned red, and Selphie began to tear up from laughing so hard.

Sometimes I think that my friends are on drugs. We laugh at _everything_. Then again, who could resist? When it came to their feelings, both Olette and Hayner became increasingly shy. They were just setting themselves up. Not our fault.

"Why aren't any of you wet yet?" Sora asked innocently, and Riku, Tidus and I couldn't stop ourselves from laughing even _harder_.

Sora blinked for a second (probably out of confusion), before a flicker of recognition passed through his eyes. He rolled his eyes, and soon enough, he had a huge smirk on his face and was pushing Tidus into the pool. But I swear, the kid has the reflexes of a _ninja_. Before he fell in, he managed to grab Riku and I, causing all three of our watery deaths.

Oh yeah, what a wonderful friend.

I think that we were lucky that the people that _were_ in the pool and not gossiping or drinking alcohol (courtesy of none other than Axel of course, who was already twenty one) moved out of our way. If not, they would've been attacked by three (pretty muscular if I do say so myself) teenage boys.

When our heads bobbed out of the water, it was like the three of us were thinking the same thing. It only took a single glance at the smirking faces of Riku and Tidus before we stealthily made our way towards Sora, getting ready to drag him into the pool by his ankle, when Selphie sniffed the air and said something that led to a worse punishment for Sora. "Oh my gosh. Xion, are you the one wearing that _amazing_ perfume?"

Xion shook her head before sniffing the air around her too. "No, but it smells. . ._ wonderful_. Like. . . Like. . . . Oh my god, I can't even describe it!"

Selphie nodded eagerly in agreement before pursing her lips in thought. "It smells so familiar. . . I think I've bought this scent before. Ugh, what was its name! ?"

Sora, now realizing that he'd be screwed if they realized it was him began to sneak his way off into the pool. Of course, Riku, Tidus and I were blocking his only exit with smug smirks. Tidus took the liberty of pushing him back towards the girls.

Sora turned to shoot us a glare before muttering something about getting more chips and darting off into the house. The three of us were about to charge after him, before we saw that someone else had beat us to it. I couldn't help but smile.

"_Pure Seduction_ by Victoria's Secret, ladies. You can ask Sora about it, he's the one that's coated in it."

Ah, Olette.

Said girl was already pushing the already shirtless Sora (whoa, when did we all take off our shirts? Dang, I guess it _does_ take me forever to notice things) towards Selphie and Xion. Hayner and Pence were trailing behind her like lost puppies, which I couldn't help but snicker at.

I guess you might think I'm a terrible person when it comes to sharing details. I mean, I miss a few myself. Ah, so here goes.

Selphie's pool deck was practically equivalent to the first floor of her house, maybe larger. The thing was split into two levels. The first level was the main pool which was, as I said before, huge. There were probably about forty people or so swimming in it comfortably. I'm talking like _hotel-_size here. To the far right was one of those fake, giant, stone waterfalls. You know, the ones that you could sit under and pretend you're under a cave while making out because the water falling in front of you would kinda cover it.

Well according to Riku at least. Come on, must I repeat my depressing childhood to you again? I hate to admit it, but I have had dated girls before. What're you supposed to do when _they_ ask you out? I mean, it's the guy's job, but it takes a lot of courage on their part, right? Besides, I always break it off before it gets serious, so it's all good. . .

Man, I kind of sound like a jerk right now.

Oh, right. Back to Selphie's pool.

The second level was a Jacuzzi, about only one-fourth the size of the main pool. If you climbed up the staircase (or just climbed the rocks on her waterfall thing), you could get to it. After all, it was actually on top of the waterfall thing, which I have to admit was pretty awesome.

To top it all off, behind me, by the entrance to her house, was this dining table stashed with a bunch of junk food. I'm talking chips, cupcakes, and even _cinammon rolls_. Yeah, I'm talking the whole enchilada here. A little to the left of that was a large cooler that had several bottles of beer and cans of soda inside.

What else did you want me to describe? What everyone's wearing? Well, I don't even know _half_ the people here, so I'm just gonna go with the people that I _do_ know.

Selphie was wearing a yellow bikini.

Olette was wearing an orange one.

Xion was wearing a black one.

And Larxene was wearing this turquoise one with a yellow swirl on her left boob.

I don't know how to be more descriptive than that. I'm a guy. I have no idea what the specific names of bikinis are.

And I don't think I really need to describe the guy's either. They're just wearing their swimming wear. I can't elaborate, because if I look at them for too long, someone will be convinced that I'm checking them out. _Not_ good for my image.

"Roxas! Hold this for me, will ya?" Whoa. When did everyone jump in the pool? I blinked in confusion before Axel thrust a bottle of beer into my hand and jumped into the pool.

I shook my head slightly, before placing his drink on the ground and heading to the cooler to get one of my own.

* * *

It was like after that one drink, I couldn't stop. No, I wasn't drunk. But still. I had already downed seven (I _think._ Math hasn't always been my forte), and I have no idea where the time went. When I started functioning properly again, it was apparently already 9:30, and most of the guests had left. In fact, the only ones left were Selphie herself, Tidus, Riku, Xion, Hayner, Pence, and Sora and I.

Olette had left around six, saying that she had to go home and make dinner. I'm pretty sure that happened.

Axel and the rest of his college friends had gotten kicked out when one of them asked Selphie if she'd like to follow him into a room. I remember that happening pretty vividly. I was cracking up like crazy.

But the people that left had left behind a huge mess. Which meant only one thing.

"Where do you guys think you're going? You have to help me clean this up!"

See? Told you so.

With a groan, we all set to cleaning up Selphie's pool deck. Fishing out the now soggy chips and snacks that had fallen into the pool and jacuzzi. Picking up the empty beer bottles and cans of soda. Properly disposing of the condoms that Axel and his friends had brought and thrown at a couple of party-goers. All that crazy shit.

"You know, Kairi never showed up," Sora said, a pout evident on his face.

Selphie frowned too. "I never even noticed. Gee, she's supposed to be my best friend, and she didn't even come!"

Ah, right. Thanks to Sora, we know had to listen to a not-so-sober Selphie rant about the randomest things.

It took a while, but finally the house was clean. And it was only eleven! I think that we were able to finish that up in record time. An hour and a half ain't so bad.

As we said our farewells and began to make our way out the door, we finally saw Selphie's beloved best friend. "Kairi!"

The girl smiled, and opened her mouth to say something, but Selphie ran towards her and punched her. Though, it probably wasn't that hard, seeing that the poor girl could barely manage to stand.

"Well. Hello to you too, Selph."

"Kairiiii! Where were you?"

"Yeah, you missed the party!"

"Why did you even take the time to still come?"

"Where's the surprise? !"

Kairi rolled her eyes at the bombardment of comments, but the smile was still etched on her face. "If I remember correctly, the text said 'from 1:30 to whenever'. And if my clock is correct, then 'now' also applies to 'whenever.'" She paused for a moment to playfully stick her nose in the air, pretending as though she was better than us while speaking in a British accent, "You guys should just be happy I decided to grace you with my presence."

We all laughed at her lightly. Well, all of us except Tidus who looked eagerly impatient. The blonde haired boy opened his mouth, probably to bug her again about the surprise, but Kairi shushed him. "_So_ as promised, meet one of my cousins, Naminé Soto! She'll be in Senior year with us!"

None of us had even noticed the girl in the simple white dress that had been shyly standing behind Kairi. But at the mention of her name, she slowly stepped out. Her light blonde locks were strewn over one of her shoulders, and her vivid blue eyes looked into the mini-mob that could only be described as our friend group. Her white dress was simple enough. It was sheer, so I could kind of make out the light blue and white striped bikini that she had been wearing underneath. Light blue flip flops adorned her feet, and she wore a silver locket around her neck. There were words and a design inscribed on it, but I couldn't really make it out. Her eyes scanned the group, a timid, almost forced smile lifting her lips up gently.

Immediately, I felt bad. Since she arrived so late, the party was pretty much already over. It also made me curious as to _why _her and Kairi were so late.

Before I could open my mouth to ask them, Namine turned her gaze to meet mine. For some odd, clichéd reason, my mind automatically went blank. I'm not sure how long we stared at each other, but it was Namine who broke the contact with a bright red blush, making me turn slightly pink too.

I hadn't even realized that everyone had already gleefully welcomed her to the group and had begun making their way home until Sora nudged me. "Dude, we should get going. At this rate, it'll be impossible to wake up early enough tomorrow!"

I nodded slowly and followed him towards our skateboards. I shot a skeptical smile at the new girl, Naminé, before we left, realizing that I hadn't even said a word to her. I didn't think she would catch it, but apparently she did, because she sent me another one of her withdrawn ones.

"See you tomorrow, Naminé."

* * *

**A/N**: Well, that was somewhat long, right? The main thing that was supposed to happen here was Selphie's party, and Roxas meeting Naminé. But while I was writing that, all of a sudden I threw in a poop covered shoe, and a Victoria's Secret fragrance. Talk about random, huh?

And I think that you can blame me for the crappiness of the details and events during Selphie's party. I wanted to get this out before my Spring Break ended, and so I kind of just dashed through it. XD

And since they ARE Seniors, it only felt right to throw in a little Facebook. XD But don't expect it in every chapter, I think. I might throw in the occasional text message too, but I think I need to see what you guys think of this.

So thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Lemme hear 'em. Please _review._

I'm also thinking of using different POVs and if you guys caught it, I threw in a little Final Fantasy in there. ;D (By the name of Aerith Gainsborough of course!)

I was debating whether or not I should add in more Final Fantasy characters,

_other_ than the ones that were shown in the Kingdom Hearts series. (Cloud, Zack, Leon, Yuffie and them) I was debating whether or not to add Yuna and Lightning and all of them in, but I don't want it to get confusing for people who haven't played those games, and. . . yeah. XP What do you think?

_Review__._


	3. Sora VS Instant Pancakes

**A/N**: So. . . wow. Haha, I woke up the morning after I posted this to **over seventeen emails from FanFiction, **_**just**_** about this story**! :O And I mean, that really made me happy. I was a little confused to find that **only three of them were actually reviews**, but ah well. Those **Story Alerts and Favorites are pretty amazing too! :D **

**Reviews are just more inspiring for me. ;D**

So, to those of you who _did_ take the time to review, I'd like to thank you again for your time right here! :D  
**Thank you to: ****Ashcroitt****, ****CupcakeLerman****, and ****Misfortune XIII**** :D **

Now, on with the story! ^^

**Disclaimer:** Nope, nope, nope. I own nothing. (Except these words. XP)

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _Sora vs. The Yellow Instant Pancake Container of Doom_

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire**, **Olette Hart**, and **97 others** were tagged in **Selphie Tilmitt**'s album, Summer Party, bitches!  
**Demyx Nocturne**, **Hayner Arden**, and **83 others** like this.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Roxas Hikari**, **Tidus !#$**, and **7 others** are now friends with **Naminé Soto**.  
**Kairi Soto **likes this.

**Olette Hart:** . . . Naminé Soto? Gah, I feel like I missed something for leaving so early! D:

**Hayner Arden:** Aw, it's alright Olette. Not much happened after you left. (:

**Tidus !#$:** Yeah, other than the fact that we met Kairi's cousin! *points* She was the surprise!

**Hayner Arden:** *facepalm* Tidus, I don't think you're really helping. . .

**Olette Hart: **. . . Surprise?

**Tidus !#$: **Shut up Hayner! And yeah Olette, the surprise Kairi was talking about on Facebook yesterday.

**Olette Hart:** Oh man, I didn't have time to get on Facebook yesterday! *pouts* Geez, the one day I *don't* have time for Social Networking, something important actually happens. *sighs dramatically*

**Roxas Hikari:** Don't worry too much about it Olette. You'll get to meet her today!

**Sora Hikari:** In like . . . a few hours! XD

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Sora Hikari** is glad that he can wake up at 2:47 in the morning from a crazy headache and find that practically all of his friends are online.  
**Riku Takama**, **Kairi Soto**, and **23 others** like this.

**Riku Takama: **I'm suffering from a really bad hangover. I just couldn't sleep.

**Kairi Soto:** . . . Aren't hangovers supposed to make you *pass out*?

**Riku Takama:** Yeah, but I don't think that part of the hangover has set in yet.

**Sora Hikari:** Whatever, at least you can keep *me* company until I fall asleep! :D

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Kairi Soto** is overjoyed about the fact that all her besties got to meet her cousin, **Naminé Soto**! :D Haha, the lil' newcomer is already sleeping peacefully in bed. ;D  
**Tidus !#$**, **Riku Takama**, and **5 others** like this.

**Olette Hart:** fkalvkjal kefajvlkjliejfaviejcledjva. *flails arms angrily in corner, before passing out*

**Kairi Soto: **. . . O_o Olette?

**Hayner Arden: **Uh. . . Kai? That probably wasn't the best thing to say.

**Kairi Soto:** . . . Do I really want to kno—Oh wait. Yeah, I got the notification about the comment a few minutes ago. Just remember what Roxas and Sora pointed out. You get to see her in a few hours! :D  
**Olette Hart** and **Hayner Arden** like this.

**Sora Hikari:** Actually only *I* pointed out the thing about a few hours. JUST saying.

**Roxas Hikari**: Sora, shut up and be glad that Kairi even remembered your name.

**Sora Hikari: **lklafjlkwaejvl. ROXAS. You know, you can be pretty mean for a brother. *childish pout*

**Roxas Hikari:** *eye roll*

**Sora Hikari:** Oh SNAP. You did NOT just eye roll ME.

**Roxas Hikari:** Actually, I did. Whatcha gonna do about it?

**Sora Hikari: **I. . . I. . . I don't know yet. But when I figure it out, its going to be awesomely epic and amazing in every freaking scope POSSIBLE. That's right. Be scared.  
**Kairi Soto**, **Hayner Arden** and **18 others** like this.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire: **Sora. It's hard to be scared of you when you usually remind me of a life-size Care Bear.  
**Roxas Hikari**, **Larxene Flash**, and **52 others** like this.

**Sora Hikari: **Oh man. Axel, you just HAD to get involved in this.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** Why, of course! I felt this status calling me from another dimension.

**Sora Hikari: **Other dimension? HOLY CRAP, I KNEW YOU WERE AN ALIEN!

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** No genius. The dimension of College-Students-That-Get-To-Stay-Up-All-Night-Because-They're-Cooler-Than-You-Lameo-Seniors-That-Have-To-Wake-Up-At-Like-5:30-In-The-Morning-To-Go-To-School-While-Axel-And-The-Awesome-College-Kids-Get-To-Enjoy-Their-Hangovers. Now if I were all you young Seniors, I'd get your asses off Facebook and go to bed before us awesomely awesome college kids break into your houses and force you guys to. ;D And don't say that I wouldn't do it. You *know* I would.  
**Demyx Nocturne**, **Zexion Scheme**, and **79 others** like this.

**Sora Hikari:** . . . . You win this time Axel.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** What're you talking about? I'm Axel. I ALWAYS win. Even if I don't win, I win.  
**Larxene Flash**, **Luxord Gamblette**, and **49 others** like this.

**Roxas Hikari: **Before you (Sora) ask what that means, I'm just going to warn you that whatever Axel's explanation will probably give you an even bigger headache than you already have with its millions of contradictions. So Sora, I suggest that you just go to sleep.  
**Axel ohmygawdimonfire**, **Kairi Soto**, and **118 others** like this.

**Sora Hikari:** . . . Fine.

* * *

"Roxasssss. . . Roxassssss. . . Roxas. Roxasss? ROXAS!"

I threw the pillow at my brother without even opening my eyes. "Shora. Leaf ve alawn. Let meh shleep."

"Roxas. Seriously. It's already five-thirty. You _told_ me to wake you up this time."

Oh. Right. I nodded slowly, before forcing myself to get out of bed, my eyes still shut with sleep. I stretched my arms and legs as far as I could, before rubbing my eyes, the moonlight streaming into my vision. Dang. It was _that_ early. "Right. Uh. . .Thanks, Sora."

From the corner of my eye, I saw my brother nod. "Yeah, whatever. I already showered," I blinked in amazement. Really? That fast? "So I guess. . . You can go shower while I. . . Make breakfast or something." Based on his tone of voice, I realized that he didn't seem too happy to be up so early either. Who would? But it wasn't my fault that Sora was just. . . good at waking up.

Even though I _really_ didn't want to get up and get ready for school, I could see no other option but to nod halfheartedly. Arguing equaled energy. Something that I just didn't have this early in the morning. Plus, Sora already showered, and showering has a habit of making both me and my brother really wake up. So he'd probably be able to win the argument since I was practically dead.

I watched as my brother shuffled out of my room and towards the kitchen, before I began stalking off to the bathroom that connected both his room and mine to take a shower.

* * *

You know, sometimes I think that Roxas should get an alarm clock. I mean, seriously? He always asks me to do it, and then tries to practically _murder_ me whenever I do! It's absolutely ridiculous.

But whatever. Family is family, right?

On my way to the kitchen, I debated about what to make for breakfast. I knew for sure that I didn't want to make something too difficult, but I didn't feel right just serving a bowl of cereal either. I mean, even though I absolutely _hate_ school, I think that it's a known fact that the first and last day of school are the most eventful. Meaning that they're the most important. And important days deserve extra-special breakfast. So by the Transitive Property, it was practically a given that I had to make something special for breakfast.

Holy shit, did I just use a math term _outside_ of school, before it even officially _started_? ! Alright, it's official. The apocalypse is coming after all.

Unable to think of something awesome to make by just using my imagination, I opened up the pantry and scanned the shelves for something delicious yet easy to make, flipping on the light switch and squinting through the blinding light. It was the bright yellow tiny jug that caught my eye. Out of curiosity, I pulled the jug out, reading the front.

"_Shake 'n Pour Instant Buttermilk Pancakes!  
By BISQUICK_"

Oooh. Pancakes sure did sound yummy. A childish grin was evident on my face as I switched the pantry light off and closed it shut. I could practically _feel_ the immaturity dissolving into my skin.

Sure, homemade pancakes were definitely the best, but I didn't memorize my Mom's recipe, and I was too lazy to search the house. So I had no real option other than to turn to the tiny yellow jug for guidance. . . and pancakes.

I think that that thing about alcohol killing your brain cells or something is true after all, seeing as I couldn't even remember how to make the darn Instant Pancakes. Or maybe I was still partially asleep? Who knows.

Still holding the Instant Pancake jug thing, I took the few steps to the actual kitchen light switch, flinched once more at the blinding light, and scanned the small containter for directions. It turns out that I didn't have to look too hard! Next to its name, in what looked like a rain drop of some sorts, were what I had suspected was the short version of the directions before I actually read it.

"_Just add water!"_

Okay, what the _hell_? You _cannot_ make pancakes by just adding water to some powder. That's just_ stupid_.

But, hey. It was worth a shot.

After setting the jug down on the counter, I opened one of the cabinets and pulled out a random glass. I then strolled over to the fridge, pressed the glass against the water compartment thing on it, and filled the glass up with nice, cold water. After that I made my way back to the counter where the mix sat, before setting the glassful of water down and ripping the seal off of the yellow jug.

After unscrewing the lid, I realized that I didn't know how much water I was supposed to add to the Instant Pancake container. . .

I also realized that there were probably more detailed instructions on the back of the jug. . .

And then I remembered that it was like six in the morning. . .

So screw reading the directions, I was going to improvise.

I dropped the lid onto the counter-top, grabbed the water, and poured as much of it as I could into the jug without making it overflow. I then picked up the lid once more, and screwed it back on. Afterwards, I just kinda stood there. I mean, seriously? Where the hell were my freaking pancakes_? !_ Exasperated and earnestly confused, I squatted down so that the little yellow jug was at my eye level. It was then that I realized what the problem was.

The water and the powder probably had to _mix_ first.

I couldn't help but grin at my intelligence.

Alright, I just had to figure out how to mix it. But I mean, it wasn't that difficult to figure out. Grabbing the jug by the handle, I shook it with all my might, as fast as physically possible.

And I had to admit. . . it was kinda fun.

Heehee, _shake_. Haha, _Shake, shake. _HAHAHAAHAHAHAAAAA!,_ SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHA- SPLAT._

I blinked at the sudden change of noise, before finally looking around in horror.

Oh. Apparently you were supposed to screw the lid on _tightly_ if you were planning on shaking it. . .

Geez, they couldn't think of putting _that_ on the little rain drop on the front? !

"Sora? How's breakfast coming alo- HOLY SHIT, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KITCHEN? !"

I blinked and looked up in confusion. Ah, Roxas entered the room. That explains a lot. "I. . . uhh. . . I was making. . . Pancakes."

Roxas blinked too before staring at me with one of those _looks_. "Okay. . . Pancakes. Now what's the problem? It looks like a freaking _bomb_ exploded in here!"

I couldn't help but feel slightly afraid at my angry twin brother. An angry Roxas usually equals an abused Sora, so I decided to choose my words carefully, "Er. . . It said to add water."

"Add water?"

"Yeah, add water to make the pancakes."

". . . Okay, well how the hell did _this_," he gestured frantically to our now batter-splattered kitchen, "happen?"

"Well, I figured that you were supposed to _mix_ the powder in the little jug thing," I raised the Yellow-Instant-Pancake-Container-Of-Doom, as I had decided to call it a few seconds ago, slightly so that my brother would know what I was talking about, "And the water together to make the pancakes."

"And how did you decide to do that?"

"I shook it of course!"

". . . Did you screw the lid on?"

I rolled my eyes at the stupidity of his question. "Of course I did!"

". . . Did you screw it on _tightly_?"

". . . Erm," I couldn't help but fidget uncomfortably, "That hadn't crossed my mind at the time."

My brother facepalmed himself in frustration. "Sora! That's obvious if you're planning to shake the living daylights out of it!"

"Well, the stupid little raindrop just told me to add water, but nothing happened, so I figured that you had to _mix_ it, so I did, but it never said to screw it on _tightly_!"

Roxas gave an exasperated sigh. "Little raindrop? Sora, did you seriously _skip reading the actual directions_?"

I couldn't help but grimace, knowing that he had figured me out. So, I did what I always do when I'm nervous. I laughed.

But nervously of course.

Roxas' eyes narrowed, and his voice ended up coming out as a growl, "Give me the stupid Pancake jug."

I nodded, before cautiously stepping towards him, and sticking the Yellow-Instant-Pancake-Container-of-Doom out. He snatched it and looked at the front of it. I stepped back, watching my brother inspect the jug. I swear I heard him mutter something like, "So _that's_ his stupid little raindrop." Then he flipped it over, and squinted to read the tiny print. Oh no, that tiny print was probably the _real_ instructions and not the little raindrop's mini version.

Sure enough, it was. "Sora? In big, capital, bold, red letters, it says _'replace lid tightly.'_"

I couldn't help but groan. "Seriously? You've _got_ to be kidding me."

* * *

It was official. My brother could screw _everything_ up. Instant Pancakes included.

In the end, we had to throw out the entire Mini-Jug thing. Sora like . . . corrupted it with water or something. I didn't even know that was _possible_.

That wasn't even the worse part of my morning. No, no, no. We were reminded about something by a phone call about ten minutes after the whole Pancake incident. In simple words?

Our mom would be returning from her trip early, and would arrive before we got home from school. _Meaning_ that we had to clean up the mess _now_ before our mom arrived. And the mess?

Biggest.

Thing.

Ever.

I had no idea how we were going to get this done.

But a simple vibration from the Facebook application on my phone seemed to be able to answer all of my problems.

Or at least, it _attempted_ to.

**Sora Hikari** to **Kairi Soto, Roxas Hikari**, **Hayner Arden**, **Olette Hart**, **Pence Harris, Riku Takama, Tidus !#$, Xion Soren, and Selphie Tilmitt**

**Sora Hikari:** So you guys. . . Haha, funny story. Um, so I totally screwed up making me and Roxas instant pancakes, and, well. . . long story short, there's pancake batter all over our kitchen, and our mom is coming back from her business trip before we get home from school and stuff, so we have to sorta clean it NOW without missing the first day of school. And since you're all such LOVELY friends, I was hoping you could lend a hand? It's like 6 right now, and since school starts at 7:30, maybe we (that is, whoever helps!) can catch breakfast before school? My treat!

**Roxas Hikari:** Sora, you're right next to me, so I have no idea why you decided to send this to me too. And second of all, now you're *bribing* people with breakfast foods_? !_ I'm absolutely speechless.

So you guys, I say that you all come and help (not only for mine and Sora's sake), but so that we can all force Sora to buy us super duper expensive breakfast foods! :D

**Sora Hikari:** Roxas! D:

**Selphie Tilmitt:** lkfja;eoviawjrlcjal. I hate you guaysd for ewaking me up.

**Tidus !#$:** Geez. I think Selphie wins for being most hungover! And I think I can spare some time. . . especially since it means making Sora spend a lot of money! :D

**Sora Hikari: ** Tidus! (:( (I couldn't decide whether to be happy that you're helping, or sad that you're just doing it to waste my money)

**Selphie Tilmitt:** Nooo. Tdisdes can't help you becaasue he needs to take me to school. If my chaufferrr sees me lke this he'll totally tell my modm andfd I cant; haveee ttheat, so he neseds to picdk mew upp.

**Tidus !#$:** Hate to break it to ya sweetie, but I can't drive. :o Ask Riku?

**Riku Takama:** Darnit, I was really looking forward to making Sora spend a shitload of money, but duty calls. I'll pick Selphie up. . . and make sure that her hangover isn't TOO noticeable.

**Sora Hikari: **Riku. -_-

**Olette Hart:** Sora, Roxas, you know that I would. But I need to take care of my Grandma. . . . I have to give her her pills right before I leave, not too early, and not too late. . . I hope you can understand?

**Roxas Hikari:** No, it's alright Olette. Perfectly understandable. Don't worry about it. (:

**Olette Hart:** Thanks, Roxas. :D I'm really sorry though, and if there were anything else I could do to help, I'd totally do it!

**Pence Harris:** I can't help out either. :/ I'm on the Freshmen Welcoming Committee, so I have to get to school in like ten minutes to set up the Freshmen Presentation. -_-

**Sora Hikari: **Dangit. So far the only one that can help out is Tidus. And he just. . . doesn't do much.

**Tidus !#$: **I can still read what you're typing! Fine, maybe I WON'T help . . . jk, I still wanna spend Sora's money. :b

**Hayner Arden:** I would, but I can't. This early in the morning, I'm allergic to work.

**Roxas Hikari:** D:

**Olette Hart:** I know how I can help now! :D Hayner, I insist that you help Sora and Roxas out in my place. Please? I'll owe you forever!

**Sora Hikari:** Yeah, Hayner! She'll owe you forever! ;D

**Olette Hart:** Sora, what's up with the ";D" face?

**Hayner Arden**: Er, Olette I would, but I seriously can't. . . I actually have to take my baby sister to the daycare center a few blocks away, and waking her up _this_ early won't be good for me. It'll take _forever_.

**Olette Hart:** Oh, alright. :/ Sorry guys, I really thought that I had something there.

**Roxas Hikari:** Naw, it's cool. We'll see you guys later I guess?

**Olette Hart:** Yeah. :)

**Hayner Arden:** Yup.

**Xion Soren:** I crashed at Selphie's house, which _probably_ wasn't the smartest idea. I think I'm gonna end up trying to help Riku out with Selphie. :/ Sorry you guys.

**Roxas Hikari:** This is just. . . This is just TERRIBLE.

**Sora Hikari:** Well. . . at least we have Tidus?

**Tidus !#$:** Ummm. . . about that. My mom needs me to help my dad load the blitzball gear into his car, you know how he's the famous "Jecht the Jet" and now he's off to another world to go play. -_-

**Roxas Hikari:** You've GOT to be kidding me.

**Tidus !#$:** No, not this time. :/ Sorry you guys. I really wanted to abuse Sora's money!

**Sora Hikari:** -no comment-

**Kairi Soto:** All hope is NOT lost! I can spare some time, and I'm dragging Naminé over to your house with me. Two for the price of one! :D

**Sora Hikari:** I LOVE YOU.

**Kairi Soto: **I know, who doesn't? ;)

**Roxas Hikari:** *gag*

"Alright, it's settled then. Kairi can help out. . ."

Sora looked up from his phone, a goof smile still on his face. "Yeah, and Naminé too! Don't forget her."

I nodded. "Alright, well we might as well get started until they get here which shouldn't take too long."

Sora simple raised an eyebrow. "They're girls. For all we know, they might take _forever_."

"Touché."

* * *

Sora was right. The girls didn't get to our place until six-twenty, and even though we weren't even half way done with cleaning up the Pancake batter mess, we still got a good amount of cleaning done. Of course, we both took a short break to answer the door.

"Kairi!"

"Sora!"

The two ran to each other before engaging in a clumsy embrace, laughing like maniacs for no reason that I could see. I rolled my eyes, but couldn't stop the small smirk from dancing on my lips. I couldn't help it. They still acted like little kids in their own little world, but Sora wouldn't shut up about her. I swear, he was like . . ._ addicted_ to her. But he just didn't have the guts to ask her out. Something about ruining their friendship? It sounded kind of cliché. Well, to me at least.

"Kairi, why did you get to the party so late last night?" My brother's voice came out as a whine.

The auburn haired girl let out a nervous laugh. Ah, something that had "Sora" written all over it. My attention was so focused on Sora and Kairi's weirdness that I forgot (again) about the shy newcomer that always seemed to be hiding behind her cousin. Of course, my attention was brought to her when her cheeks turned bright red. The redness on her pale cheeks was just . . . eye-catching.

Whoa, did I just say that? I meant that they _stand out. _Haha, wrong usage of words there, Roxas!

Sora cocked an eyebrow at Naminé, but chose to say nothing to her, and instead kept his skeptical gaze on Kairi. "Um. . . I'll tell you some other time, kay?"

Now _I_ was curious. The way these two girls were acting was pretty suspicious. If I were Sora, I wouldn't have let it slide, but since Sora is Sora, he did just that. The grin resumed on his face as he nodded and said, "Alrighty then." I opened my mouth to say something, but Sora had already grabbed Kairi's wrist and screamed, "To the kitchen!" before running off.

And that left me with Kairi's cousin, Naminé. I couldn't help but fidget uncomfortably. Her light blue eyes practically _bored_ into me, almost like she was peering into my very soul. Her pale complexion and light hair reminded me all too much of a ghost of some sort, and I resisted the instinct to shiver. It was weird. I _always_ acted like this around strangers. And that's all she really was to me at this point. A stranger.

She was wearing a white shirt. I'm not really sure what they're called, but they have really thin straps and are tight around . . . well to be frank, the boob area, but loose everywhere else, ya know? Or maybe you don't know, because I'm actually _here_ and I'm not even sure that I know. She had a gray cardigan (Look! I remembered a fashionable word!) on that was rolled up just past her elbows, with a pair of light skinny jeans and beat-up black Converse high-tops. Just like it was last night, her light blonde hair was slung over her shoulder, her bangs still covering little sections of her face. The same silver locket as last night was around her neck as well.

She didn't move her gaze from me, and it wasn't until much later that I realized I didn't look away from her either. No, I wasn't checking her out or anything (I'm not that type of guy!). It was like meeting a new person, and just . . . I don't know. Noting things about them? Yeah, that was it. And that was just what she was probably doing with me too. Not a big deal.

"Uh . . . are you guys coming anytime soon?"

I blinked and turned my attention to my brother, who had stuck his head out from behind a nearby wall, a curious expression etched on his face.

"Huh? Uh yeah, we're coming."

Sora shot me one of his smug smirks before nodding and returning back to cleaning.

Oh, right. _Cleaning_.

I started to walk over towards the kitchen, but when I turned my head to look at her, Naminé wasn't following me. She kind of just stood there in the middle of the hallway. A gray Jansport book bag was slung over her right shoulder, and instead of her gaze fixed on me, it was now downcast, watching her thumbs as they twiddled with themselves.

She was . . . nervous? Well, that was understandable. She was practically in a stranger's house.

Feeling a twinge of guilt for not being more welcoming, I made my way back to her, tapping her on the shoulder lightly. Her body jerked from the sudden touch, though it was extremely light, and when her eyes met mine, a look of fear, nervousness, and curiosity were evident in them. "Hey, you can just . . . leave your bag there for now."

She followed my hand with her eyes as I gestured to the area where Kairi had thrown her light pink backpack. Slowly, she moved towards it, and took off her own, dropping it gently on the floor.

I scratched the back of my head, a nervous smile on my face. Okay, I'll admit it. I've never really been the one that was good at talking to people. No, that was Sora. But we were kind of a two in one package. If you were friends with Sora, then you were friends with me. It was practically a rule. But now, here I was, without a clue as to what to say. All of my friends were loud, random, and proud of the fact. Yet Naminé. . . she was like something completely new! "Uh, let's go to the kitchen?"

She gave a nod, an emotionless expression still on her face as she trailed behind me, about a couple of feet away. Okay, the awkwardness was _really_ setting in now. I couldn't help but rush my steps a bit faster, just so that I'd be back in my comfort zone with Sora and Kairi. Her light footsteps seemed to speed up to keep up with my sudden change of tempo.

"WE'VE GOT TO CLEAN LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW!"

With a smile on my face, I couldn't resist cringing to both my brother and Kairi's purposely offbeat cover of Paula Abdul's "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow," their version of course being "Clean Like There's No Tomorrow."

They were laughing like crazy, Kairi standing on the counter, and Sora leaning against it with a mop in hand.

For once I was glad that I was returning to the land of the chaotic.

* * *

**A/N: **XD Wow. **Did you catch my attempt at trying something new in this chapter?** Haha, I **switched POV to Sora.** I was originally going to have Roxas screw up the Instant Pancakes, but then I realized how out of character it was for him, so I decided to change the POV to Sora. I hope it came off as a little funny, and not too cheesy? XP And no joke, those tiny yellow Instant Pancake jugs exist. XD I wrote that part with Pancakes in mind, with the little Yellow-Instant-Pancake-Container-Of-Doom next to me. XD

I also just realized (when I sped-read over this) that I started my last chapter in a similar a fashion as this one. You know, with Sora waking up Roxas, and Roxas not wanting to get up. XD

And no, I'm not a weirdo for listening to Paula Abdul. XD I just remember that song because it premiered on American Idol and was extremely catchy. XD

Well, thoughts? Comments? They're mucho appreciated. The more feedback I get, the more inspired I feel. ;D

I'd especially like your comments on **Whether I Should Add Other Final Fantasy Characters** (meaning, ones that didn't appear in the Kingdom Hearts series)**.**

**Yeah! So please review! :D**

Will Roxas ever get his shoe back? XD The world may never know!

**Next time?** The quartet abuse Sora's money, and school officially begins!


	4. Panera's and Schedules

**A Wishful Thought (A Note From The Author):** Hellur! :D haha, Wishful here. ;) Did you see what I did there? Instead of just "A/N" I think I'm going to just say "A Wishful Thought". I just realized that I could do that the other night. XD

Moving ON, I'm updating again you guys. :D I just realized that I've updated this story pretty frequently. I think I'm extremely proud of myself. ;D I don't have much to say here, so don't worry guys, the story shall start soon.

**Thank you to: ****KeybladeMaster97, CupcakeLerman, Ashcroitt, and Black-Star98**** for reviewing. :D You guys are ****AWESOME.**

I also think that I'll be stealing **KeybladeMaster97**'s suggestion about the Final Fantasy characters. So you'll see them, but if they don't make an appearance in KH, you won't see them all too much. Save for some characters I JUST CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT! *huggles said characters* X3

And look out world. **Misfortune XIII** has officially become my partner in crime. Look out for our collab story which will come out soon. (hopefully. ;) XD

NOW ENJOY! :D

**Disclaimer:** I DO NOT own Kingdom Hearts. The characters, the worlds, or any of that. I also do not own Panera Bread and any other things that may pop up in this chapter. XD I only own these words kiddies. :]

**THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, SO READ THIS PART. :D**  
The Worth of Munny:  
I'm going to be going with 500 munny equaling $50, 50 munny equaling $5, and 5 munny equaling 5 cents. So you pretty much just have to take out a zero to get a comparison kind of price.

But to be more specific, (like when I use a number that _doesn't_ end with zero) you're pretty much just moving the imaginary decimal at the end one place to the left. And since I don't want to think too much about math right now since it's the weekend, I'll leave it at that. But just message me if you need more clarification on that I guess.

Whoa. These people have a pretty good economy. XD

**Minor Edit** as of August 27, 2011.

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _Panera's and Schedules_

"Ohmigod. I think we're done."

"We're done?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Seriously?"

"Well Sora, does it still _look_ dirty to you?"

". . . OH MY GOD! WE'RE FINALLY DONE!"

I rolled my eyes as Sora commenced dancing around our kitchen. Eventually, he grabbed Kairi's wrist and they began to twirl and dance and laugh together, momentarily making me forget the awful stench of cleaning chemicals that now plagued our kitchen.

Just for a second.

I crinkled my nose in disgust when the fumes attacked me again, forcing me to back away from the kitchen. "Ugh! Can't we leave already? The smell in here is absolutely horrendous."

The two idiots paused to look at me, their hands still clasped together. Sora widened his eyes in faux shock. "Wow, Roxas! I never knew you could use a word as big as 'horrendous.'"

I rolled my eyes. "Coming from _you_, Sora."

Sora's expression changed to one that showed offense, and Kairi giggled before screaming, "OOOOOOH! SORA YOU JUST GOT _SERVED_."

We both blinked. The sudden dialogue that escaped Kairi's mouth was random, and honestly, my comeback wasn't the most amazing thing in the whole entire world. But whatever, I wasn't going to wave away a compliment. And so I planted a smug smirk on my face as Sora's eyes narrowed playfully. "I think that _someone's_ been sniffing too much Clorox. . ."

Kairi giggled again before letting go of Sora's hand and punching him playfully in the arm. "Whatever, Sora. Let's just go out to eat now, okay? I'm hungry."

Sora paled slightly as he remembered his promise to buy us all breakfast. "Oh, right. . . . About that. . . ."

I guffawed at him. "Oh, nonononononoNO. You _are_ buying us breakfast, brother dearest. There's no backing out of it now."

Kairi nodded eagerly, her eyes glistening with excitement.

Sora only needed to glance once at my determined expression, and once at Kairi's puppy-dog face, before he sighed in defeat. "Fine, let me get my wallet."

Kairi and I cheered at the top of our lungs. "HALLELUJAH! THE HEAVENS SMILE UPON US TODAY!"

I chuckled. "Kai, I think Sora's right. No more Clorox sniffing for you." She continued to laugh as I pushed her out of our kitchen and towards the front door, Naminé quietly trailing behind us. Kairi was still giggling, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see the slightly confused and worried expression on Naminé's face which made me burst out into laughter too.

Kairi picked up her light pink Jansport bag, and slung it over her right shoulder. "Nami, time to go! Haha, get ready to spend Sora's money like crazy! Don't hold back!" She threw her head back in maniacal laughter before adding on an afterthought, "Oh! And it's your first day at Twilight Town Prep, too!"

A light smile slowly graced itself on Naminé's lips as she carefully made her way towards her cousin and her backpack.

Oh, backpack.

"Hey guys, I'll be right back. Just gonna get my bag and make sure Sora isn't trying to take my money."

Kairi was still giggling (I was beginning to worry for this girl's wellbeing now. . .), but she gave a nod anyway. Naminé had picked up her gray Jansport and slung it over her left shoulder. Standing next to her cousin, I couldn't help but notice all the similarities and differences between the two.

They were practically the _exact_ same height, and they had a majority of the same features. But other than those two things about them, everything was completely different.

Kairi's auburn hair was naturally pin-straight, and was slightly shorter than Naminé's, but not by much. The only feature that she owned that was different from Naminé's was her eyes. In a way, Kairi's eyes always freaked me out. They always had this kind of sparkle in them, and the color was almost violet. _Violet_. It was just. . . weird.

Compared to Naminé, Kairi was much girlier, but not to a Selphie extent. Today she was wearing a white skirt that went about halfway up her thigh, maybe even a little higher. The skirt had different red and pink flowers on it that had the appearance of being painted on that varied in distance and size. She wore one of those Henley shirts that was pale pink and a white tank top underneath. The one thing that _wasn't _girly about her outfit was the white Vans on her feet.

Vans. Oh, that's right. Sora still had to locate and clean my missing infected shoe.

Oh yeah. _Sora_.

Promptly, I turned on my heel, and made my way to my room to pick up my black Jansport.

You may be wondering, why do all of these kids have Jansport bags?

Haha, well I'll tell you. Jansport is one of the official sponsors of our school, meaning we always get discounts on their stuff if we have our school ID on us. It's pretty awesome actually.

"Err. . . Roxas? Will you do your older twin a favor because you love him so much?"

I fought the urge to ignore him, but ultimately turned to face him. "I'm not lending you any munny."

He groaned in exasperation. "Roxasssss! C'mon, I'll pay you back!"

I rolled my eyes for what seemed like the umpteenth time this morning. "Sora, that's what you've been saying for the whole _seventeen years_ we've been alive. You've never paid me back even _once_."

Sora winced. He had probably thought that I had forgotten about all the munny he owed me. Au contraire my friend. Roxas _never_ forgets.

Most of the time.

"But, Roxas! I only have five-hundred munny on me!"

I blinked. Where did Sora get _that_ munny? "Sora, five-hundred munny is probably enough to buy us all breakfast." My brother shook his head madly, a desperate expression on his face. "No? Why not?"

"Because knowing you _fat asses_, you're all going to want to buy the whole freaking restaurant! Five-hundred munny is _not_ enough to buy a whole entire restaurant!"

I couldn't help but laugh at my brother. He was probably right. Cleaning worked up one _hell_ of an appetite for me. "Well, what do you want me to do about it?"

Sora bit his lip in thought, before his expression brightened up, meaning that he had obviously come up with a solution. "I'll pay for most of it, and you pay the rest?"

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't stop the smile on my face from appearing. Sora's pathetic nature just. . . gets me cracking up every time. Subconsciously, I ended up nodding, and I didn't even realize what I had gotten myself into until Sora started jumping up and down and cheering. "Yeah! Thanks, bro."

He was still all smiles as he gave me one last pat on the back before waltzing out of my room. I opened my mouth to object to what I had gotten myself into, but then closed it shut. Whatever, I'd just hold back a little. Five-hundred munny was _definitely_ enough to get us all something. I have no idea what he was thinking.

I pulled on one of my old pairs of Nike 6.0s, made sure I had my cell phone, and headed out of my room and back towards the front door. Sora was already there, talking animatedly to our auburn-haired friend and her blonde cousin. But I guess my footsteps are louder than I think they are, because Sora turned to look at me, just when I was nearing to approach him.

Either that, or we really _do_ have twin telepathy.

Oh my god, I can't believe I just thought that.

"Yo, Rox. You ready?"

I grinned. "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Usually, Sora and I ride our skateboards to school and then just stash them in our lockers when we get there. But since Kairi and Naminé were with us today, skateboarding was out of the question. No, no, Sora and I were going to be total gentlemen this morning.

Or at least _I_ would. Sora could try though.

"So, where would you ladies like breakfast this fine morning?"

Sora was walking with his arms crossed behind his head giving off a kind of carefree vibe. Kairi who had been whispering something to Naminé paused and seemed to ponder it for a few moments, Sora having to continue to push her forward since he was behind her and well. . . we were sort of on a tight schedule.

"I'm not entirely sure. What do you think, Nami?"

Her quiet, but blonde haired cousin blinked at Kairi before looking around the street in wonder. She obviously hadn't been to this part of town yet, but I think she understood that we were sort of in a rush. Eventually, she pointed a shaking finger to the first restaurant that we came across.

_Panera Bread_

"Dude. I didn't even know we had one of these in Twilight Town!" Sora exclaimed, his voice full of childish excitement.

I merely chuckled while Kairi giggled. I think that I even saw Naminé smile again! Though it was very minute. Part of me still wished that she would say something, because in the seven hours or so that I've known her, she hasn't said a word to me.

Okay, a majority of those seven hours was spent sleeping, but that doesn't matter. Her silence was really starting to freak me out!

Before I knew it, Kairi and Naminé had forced open the doors to the bakery. The wonderful scent of baking bread and cinnamon welcomed us into the store, and I couldn't help but sigh happily. Panera Bread was like heaven.

The line wasn't extremely long, but wasn't extremely short either. It didn't matter though, the waiting in line gave us enough time to look at all their different goods and decide on whatever we wanted. We hadn't even realized that we had gotten to the front of the line because we were so distracted by the different pastries. "Hello, welcome to Panera Bread. How can I help you this morning?"

It was Kairi who spoke first. "Hi! I'll have a Strawberry and Cream Scone, a Four Cheese Soufflé, and a package of Spring Petites please."

The guy behind the counter blinked in mild confusion. "Err. . . You do understand that Soufflés are kind of big, right?"

Kairi's eyebrows knit together in confusion similar to his before slowly nodding, "Um, yeah? There's a picture right there."

The guy opened his mouth as though to say something, but closed it quickly.

"Oh! And I'd also like a Cinnamon Hot Chocolate please!"

His eyes darted to Kairi, and he nodded slowly before walking off to go get her order. Even though I found it slightly strange that Kairi wanted a Hot Chocolate even when it was already hot enough _outside_, I couldn't help but wonder why this guy seemed so. . . clueless.

"Hey, wait! We're not done ordering yet!"

The man blinked again and carefully made his way back to the cash register. "Excuse me?"

Sora chuckled, "Uh, yeah. All of us," he gestured clumsily to himself, Naminé, and I, "are ordering with Kairi too."

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize that. . . Um. . . So what would the rest of you like to order?

Before Sora could respond, I took the opportunity to get my order in. "I'll take a Breakfast Power Sandwich, a Cobblestone, a Bear Claw, a Chocolate Chip Muffin and a Cinnamon Crumble Coffee Cake." I grinned cheekily at the guy at the register before adding on, almost as an afterthought, "Oh! And you wouldn't happen to have Caramel Frappuccinos here, would you?" I kept the smile on my face. I mean, I was really proud of myself for toning down my hunger. It's hardly ever that I do that.

So, that's right. Revel in the moment.

"Well we don't exactly have that, but we have something really simila-"

I cut him off before he could launch himself into an exceedingly long and boring description of the drink. "Yeah, okay. I'll just have that."

The guy behind the register nodded, and scribbled the order down on a notepad.

"Yeah, and I'll have a Ham and Swiss Soufflé, a Steak and Egg Breakfast Sandwich, a Cinnamon Roll, a Chocolate Chip Scone, a Pastry Ring, a French Croissant, and. . . Did I say Cinnamon Roll already?" The worker looked up at Sora, and gave him a skeptical nod. Sora paused as though pondering something before adding on, "Oh, what the hey. Another cinnamon roll, and whatever Roxas ordered for a drink, but with Chocolate!" The cashier looked between the four of us, as though trying to figure out which one of us Sora meant as "Roxas," but he seemed to be genuinely confused. This guy was either just extremely slow, or just a confused kind of guy. So being the nice kind of dude that I am, I gave him a short, half-hearted wave, to signal that "Yeah, that guy wants what I want but apparently with chocolate."

The guy smiled gratefully at me before scribbling something down. "Alright, and what about you, young lady?" By now, the guy was really into it. He had his pen ready on his notepad, and this kind of determined stance that showed that he was ready to keep up with her while she voiced her order.

"I'll have a Fresh Apple Pastry please."

I couldn't help but stare at the shorter blonde next to me in amazement. Why was she so quiet? Her voice sounded so. . . I don't know, but it was pretty kind of voice. Not the kind that should remain silenced forever. You know what I mean? Kind of? Sort of? Not really?

The worker's eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion, but there was something in his eyes that seemed a little shocked too. "Say that again?"

Naminé blinked, obviously bewildered. Yet something told me that there was another emotion hidden under the primary bewilderment. What it was, I have no idea. "Um, I said that I'll have a Fresh Apple Pastry."

One of the worker's eyebrows arched, "Are you sure?"

Now, Naminé's brows were furrowed slightly as she tried to figure the guy out. "Am I sure about what?"

"Are you sure that that's what you want?"

Her eyes widened slightly. "Why, are the Apple Pastries bad?"

He shook his head wildly, "No, of course not!" Seeing Naminé's look of puzzlement, he explained himself in more detail. "I meant, are you sure that that's all you'll have?"

As though trying to satisfy this guy, Naminé half-heartedly answered, "I guess I'll have a Vanilla Shake, too . . .?"

He nodded and scribbled it down, then looked up at her as though waiting for her to continue. Geez, did he really just think we all ordered a lot? Naminé's expression still held one of confusion and bewilderment, and Kairi and Sora seemed to be deep in conversation with each other, so I figured that I'd have to be the one to speak up. "Dude. That's all she wants. Chill."

The man blinked, before nodding and muttering, "Oh, right. . ." and darting off to get our food. I couldn't help but smirk at his reaction, yet at the same time, he seemed kinda out of it. What was his problem?

"Th-Th-Thank you."

I blinked in wonder and stared at Naminé, who seemed to be gripping her bag strap for dear life, her eyes refusing to look everywhere but at me.

"Yeah. . . It's no problem." It was then that I realized that Kairi and Sora having a kind of secretive conversation, and that it would take the cashier guy a while to get all of our things together. And so I figured, why not start a conversation with the quiet girl? "So. . . Are you excited for Senior year?" I couldn't help but wince as I imagined the likely awkwardness that this conversation would hold.

She fidgeted a little bit before responding quietly. "Yeah, I guess."

See? My gut feeling is always right.

Usually.

Okay, Roxas: think. What else could you ask to strike up a more interesting conversation? "Cool. . .Uh. . . How about your Major? What do you want to do in College?"

She blushed, the rosy pinkness bringing lively color to her cheeks, the previous ghost-like Naminé instantly disappearing. "I. . . I want to be an artist."

My eyebrows rose at the statement. I didn't expect something like that from her. Well actually, I'm not sure what I _did_ expect from her. "Really? What kind of art?"

The rosy pinkness on her cheeks brightened up her face, and finally her bright eyes met mine. For once showing excitement in something. When she spoke, it was with passion. When she gestured, it was with animation. "I enjoy sketching, drawing, and painting, but I hope to be good at everything. I'm working on calligraphy right now."

"Calligraphy?"

She giggled, and the sound was so joyful, that I could barely believe that the sound was coming from the quiet, almost creepy girl that I was talking to this morning. "Yeah, calligraphy. It's the art of fancy lettering." I guess I still kind of looked confused or something, because she grinned. "Kind o f like extravagant handwriting."

I chuckled. "Really? I guess I should take study that too. My handwriting _sucks_."

She smiled at me, "It's not that hard. It's fun actually!"

I smiled, glad that she was suddenly so happy. Obviously, art was extremely important in her life. "Do you have anything on you?"

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, "What do you mean?"

I blinked, thinking that I had been pretty obvious in my question. But when I thought about it, I realized that I really wasn't. "I mean do you have any of your sketches or anything with you right now?"

Her eyes seemed to brighten even _more_ and she opened her mouth to respond, but the stupid cash register dude screamed, "ORDER UP!"

And so, Sora walked over to me so we could pay the bill, and Kairi strode over to Naminé. Together, the two of us Hikari boys made our way to the cash register, all smiles. "Alright, your total is five hundred-forty munny."

I couldn't help but stare at the cashier guy. Just one of those creepy, blank like stares. You know, like it hadn't registered to me that I was supposed to take out my wallet and pay.

Oh, that's right. I didn't have to. Sora was paying for the five hundred, which was most of the total. I only had to pay forty munny, which was a little more expensive than the school lunch.

And so, I turned my gaze to my brother. "Sora, c'mon. Pay up."

He nodded, his expression one that I couldn't decipher. And that alone was beginning to worry me. He took the wallet out of his back pocket and opened it. A playful smirk on his face. "Oh, what do you know? Roxas, it turns out that I only have one hundred-fifty munny."

I blinked before bonking him on the head in anger. "You idiot! There's no way in _hell_ that I'm paying three hundred and ninety munny for you! _You_ said that breakfast was on you! I only agreed to pay whatever extra munny there was to pay!"

The smirk was still on his face, and now the whole freaking restaurant was staring at us. Geez. Why is there only one cash register open? Is that why they're all staring at us? Yeah, probably just impatient, hungry people. "Well, I don't have that kind of munny, Roxas. So unless you suddenly aren't hungry anymore, I suggest that you pay up."

I scowled at him before leaning in to whisper, "Sora. I only have three hundred munny. Either way, we don't have enough money to pay for this."

His eyes widened before he backed away from me in shock. "Oh crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, CRAP." The cashier guy was giving us this super skeptical look now, but with this tint of anger. Uh-oh.

I ran towards him. "Let's just ask the girls."

Sora nodded, his eyes still wide. He began walking over towards the girls, while I turned to look at the cashier. "Uh, hold on one second."

When I got back to Kairi, Naminé, and Sora, I figured that Sora had already explained our predicament. Naminé had gone back to the quiet, ghost-like girl from before, leaving no trace of the excited girl I had been talking to just a few minutes ago. But now, she looked kind of nervous. Kairi on the other hand looked angry. "Dammit! Sora, I was looking forward to breakfast!"

He smiled nervously. "Yeah. Well. . . I figured that Roxas would have enough money!"

The auburn-haired girl and I turned to face him angrily. "YOU SAID THAT YOU WOULD PAY!"

Sora waved us away, "Calm down you guys."

My eyes narrowed in anger. Calm down? There was no way in_ hell_ that I would calm down. "SORA! YOU'RE BEING RIDICULOUS! YOU SHOULD'VE SAID SOMETHING EARLIER!" I gestured madly with my arms, waving them high and crazily in the air as I continued to rant. "IF YOU HAD SAID THAT YOU DIDN'T HAVE MUCH MUNNY, WE WOULD'VE GONE SOMEWHERE CHEAPER, AND WE WOULD ACTUALLY HAVE FOOD! WHAT THE F-"

My rant was interrupted from a groan from behind me, and three shocked faces looking at me. I rolled my eyes, "Okay. What now-" But as I turned, I just . . . stopped talking.

Apparently while I had been waving my arms around like a madman, I had punched the cashier guy that had come over to probably kick us out of the restaurant. But not on purpose. Definitely.

The other customers in the café were staring at us like we were murderers now. But obviously this cashier dude was the only one currently in the store (maybe everyone else was out getting stock or something? Who knows.) because when a random girl in the audience started screaming at the top of her lungs, nobody came running after twenty seconds.

So either the manager just _wasn't_ here, or he was just deaf.

It honestly doesn't matter to me.

I turned to face my friends, Sora and Kairi wearing an expression identical to mine. Naminé just look bewildered, but I figured she'd go along with it. I nodded at Sora who then screamed, "RUN AND TAKE ALL YOU CAN CARRY!"

Then the three of us ran like crazy to the counter, grabbing as much of the baked goods we could carry. It took Naminé a while to get over the initial shock of our badass-ness (yeah, I admit. We're pretty bad), but eventually she caught on and grabbed a whole armful of things too before following Sora and Kairi out the door.

While holding all the pastries in my arms, I managed to pull out the wallet from my back pocket. I took out what seemed like 100 munny (I'm not sure. I was in a rush, I didn't exactly have time to count), threw it on the counter, and then ran out the door after my partners-in-crime, the random people in the café staring at me in shock, while others screamed.

As soon as I caught up to them (they had the decency to wait for me outside the door), we took off running in the general direction of the school, attempting to stuff our faces with the stolen goods as we went.

"Craziest. Morning. EVER."

I snickered in agreement with my brother as Kairi giggled and Naminé smiled, the biggest one I've ever seen her smile mind you. "You've got that right."

* * *

When we finally got to school, it was already 7:20. Meaning that the first bell of the school year would be ringing in a little over ten minutes. Usually, our entire friend group tried to get to school early, like at seven-ish so we could all hang out in the courtyard.

So, it wasn't too surprising when the four of us were tackled by a mob of people.

It was Tidus that punched me and Sora on the arm. "Gosh, what took you guys so long? You guys didn't even have the decency to bring us some food!"

Sora laughed, "Well Tidus, you guys didn't help clean our kitchen."

Tidus rolled his eyes and pouted, before Hayner yelled (well he sort of had to over the mass chattering that was occurring throughout the school courtyard), "Did you guys get your schedules yet?"

I blinked. I had totally forgotten about that. "Naw, I'll just run over and get it now I guess. Sora, do you want to come?" I turned to face my brother, but he seemed to be relaying our "epic escape from Panera Bread and the rabid dogs that the manager sent to follow us," so since he was busy lying to Tidus who was totally eating it up, he probably didn't want to come. "Hey Kai, do you want to-" I turned to look at her, but she seemed to be introducing Naminé to a giddy Olette. Naminé seemed to hear what I had been saying though, because she smiled lightly in apology.

I scowled, I'd have to go in alone, because knowing the rest of my friends, they'd be too lazy to come with me if they weren't going to have a benefit. Hayner laughed at my expression before saying, "Don't worry, Pence is there."

It didn't really help, but I nodded before dashing off to the main office to get my schedule. But being the nice person I was, I guess I'd just go ahead and get Sora's, Naminé's, and Kairi's too. Just because I'm nice.

Lucky for me, there was no line to wait in. Everybody had probably come earlier than usual to pick up their schedules.

"Name?"

"Uh, Roxas Hikari. But I'm also picking up my brother, Sora Hikari's schedule, and my two friends, Naminé and Kairi Soto's schedules."

The old lady behind the counter nodded, and instantly handed me the four schedules. I blinked at her speed, and opened my mouth to ask her how she did that so fast, but she merely chuckled and said, "They were the last four left."

Riiiiight. "Oh, thank you!" I waved at her as I dashed out the door and back into the courtyard. I hadn't seen Pence, so knowing him, he had probably been dragged off on a last-minute tour with some of the Freshmen.

When I finally returned to my friend group, nothing had really changed. At all. They were all still talking amongst themselves, some of them not noticing me as I came up behind them panting heavily from my run. God, this was too much running for one morning.

"Uh, Roxas? You alright?"

I looked up at Olette, who looked slightly concerned at my state. I shook my head, before thrusting Naminé and Kairi's schedules at them. Sora was at the other side of the gigantic blob that was our friends, so I'd give his schedule to him later. Kairi grinned, and Naminé smiled, both thanking me for getting their schedules. It was then that I realized that I hadn't even looked at my schedule. Some people always worry about new schedules, because they think that they won't have any classes with their friends. But in Twilight Town Prep, no one really cares.

You see, Twilight Town Prep is one of those schools that believe that you shouldn't hold back your students. So based on average grades and end of the year finals, our school splits all of the kids into three different levels. The first level is the creepily smart kids, the second was for the average kids, and the third level were for those kids that . . . well, just needed some extra help. So it was cool, because they always put you with kids that were at your level, so you never had to be annoyed at a stupid question, or confused at an extremely detailed one. Plus, you're usually friends with people who are on the same level as you, so you usually ended up in a lot of classes with them. If you were on the same level as someone, you had all of your core classes together. Twilight Town Prep liked to teach in a college-like setting, so there were one-hundred kids in each core class. The number of people in an elective varied to the teacher's opinion, and as to how many kids wanted to take the elective.

Since our school was in a small town like Twilight Town, there were never more than one-hundred kids in each of the levels. The only time you really got to hang out with someone that may or may not be on your level, was in your elective classes.

But even though I'm usually not nervous when it came to schedules, I was nervous this time. You see, our friend group decided to try for the First Level this year, since it's our Senior Year. For some of us, like Kairi, Pence, Riku, and Olette, learning came easy. So throughout high school, they had been on the First Level, while the rest of us had been on the second. But since it was our last year, they insisted that we studied our butts off so we could all be on the same level, meaning more classes with them.

And thus, we all went through studying boot camp to prepare for our Finals in an attempt to pass into First Level. But we wouldn't know until which level we were placed in until we got our schedules.

I gulped, before opening up the folded piece of paper and actually reading it.

_**Student Schedule**_

_**Roxas James Hikari**_

_**Fourth Year Student**_

_**First Class Level**_

My eyes widened in joy, and I couldn't help but fist-pump the air. "HELL YEAH!"

My friends turned to look at me, smirks evident on all faces except Sora. It was Riku who spoke up, "Finally looked at your schedule, huh? I'm guessing you were put into First Level, too."

I grinned and nodded eagerly, temporarily ignoring Sora's expression of confusion. "Tidus, did you make it, too?"

He grinned and nodded. Sora guffawed at him. "Tidus made First Level! ? That means I definitely made it too!"

He ran at me, his eyes eager. I chuckled, and handed him his schedule. He opened it, eyes scanning the page. "AW YEAH, FIRST LEVEL, BABY!"

We all laughed at him. "Wow! I guess the studying paid off. We're all First Level!"

"Yeah! And Naminé too!"

Naminé blushed at the sudden attention as we all looked at her, smiles evident on our faces. We continued to cheer, until Kairi spoke up again, "Hey, where did Selph go?"

Xion's mouth shaped into a small "o", and she dashed off to who knows where. Kairi looked at Riku as if he would have an explanation, but he simply shrugged and said, "Probably bathroom."

Hayner pushed the others out of his way so that he could tell me something without yelling. "Did you read your schedule yet? Let's see how many classes we have together!"

I smiled and nodded, before re-opening the folded paper, and holding it out so that both of us could see it.

_**Student Schedule**_

_**Roxas James Hikari**_

_**Fourth Year Student**_

_**First Class Level**_

_Period One: AP Astrology _

_Period Two: Guitar_

_Period Three: AP French_

_Period Four: AP Calculus_

_Period Five: AP English Language_

_Period Six: AP History_

_Period Seven: P.E._

I couldn't help but guffaw at all the Advanced Placement classes I was put into. Maybe being put on First Level wasn't so great after all. . .

Catching my expression, Hayner laughed. "Let's see. We have all our core classes together, plus P.E.!"

He cheered, before being pushed out of the way by my brother. "Ah, Roxie, what did you get?" I rolled my eyes at the nickname, but I couldn't keep the smile off my face. His eyes scanned my paper, before he grinned. "We have our _whole_ schedule together! I guess twins really _do_ stick together!"

I couldn't help but groan. Yay, more time for brother-bonding.

* * *

**A Wishful Thought (A Note From The Author):** Whoa. I'm not sure if I'm happy or not with this chapter. XD It's longer, but do you think I rushed through it? Nami seems a bit bipolar, doesn't she? Ah, I dunno.

So I totally based Twilight Town Prep off of my high school. XD There's three different levels too. The first one being called "The Monticello Program," which is where the smart people go. (I have no idea how I managed to snag one of the one hundred seats in this level. XD) The second one doesn't have a name, but is the average class, and the third level is called "The AVID Program." I know, I'm not very creative when it comes to forming my own imaginary high school. XD

I based Roxas' schedule off of mine too, but with a few tweaks cuz. . . Well, I'm not a Senior. XD

I was debating whether or not I should share everyone's schedules, but I figured it would get too confusing, which is why I decided that since they're on the same level, they would have all their core classes together. It's just easier that way. XD **However, if you want a copy of them, I can send it to you. (:**

Next chapter, Final Fantasy characters will be mentioned. Several of them. And some might even become main characters because I love them too much. XD

ANYWAY, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. :D It's my longest one so far. XP

Please _**review**_.


	5. The First Day of School

**A Wishful Thought: (A Note From The Author)** Please. Don't. Hurt. Me. D:

So, I'm kind of upset at myself for updating this chapter late, (I was actually really proud of myself for updating constantly! But now _that's_ down the drain. -_-;) and thus I must apologize. o_o BUT this chapter is planned to be super duper long (I'm shooting for documenting Roxie's FULL DAY AT SCHOOL! :D), so I hope it'll make up for it.

I'm also sorry for not responding to everyone's reviews. D: I've been really busy lately, so I wasn't able to thank some of you properly for taking the time to review my story. So _nowwwww_ I'd like to thank:

**Misfortune XIII, KeybladeMaster97, Ashcroitt, Sato Tadashi, CupcakeLerman, **and** Future No. 0**

For reviewing! :D You guys are awesome. :')

I'd also like to point out a **somewhat** **important edit that was made to the last chapter**, concerning a certain part in Panera Bread. XP It's not entirely important though, and you'll understand what happens in this chapter without reading the edit. In fact, **all I really did was add more details,** so it's not too big of a deal. But if you're curious, just check it out. :]

Also, several **Final Fantasy characters are to be mentioned in this chapter**, and **one is going to be an extremely important** character in this story. XD You don't actually have to play the games though to understand the characters, all you really have to do is** look up a picture of them on Google or something.** XD

And since I didn't include all of the character's schedules (I only included Sora and Roxas's actually. XD), **you're welcome to ask me for a copy of all their schedules if it makes the story easier for you to follow**. Just say so in your review, or just PM me. :]

Oh, and I'd also like to say** HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY ****MISFORTUNE XIII**! I think you said your birthday was next week, but I don't know if I'll be able to update in time to say happy birthday. ^^;

Disclaimer: **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. But I'm sure you already knew that. ;D**

**Minor Edit** as of August 28th, 2011

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +:_ The First Day Of School_

Even though I've gone to Twilight Town Prep for three whole years of my life, I have to admit that seeing the classrooms on the first day of school always kinda gets me.

Like right now.

When I walked into AP Astrology at like, seven thirty-two in the morning, I felt like I was walking into a freaking _football stadium_. Except it was much smaller, it didn't reek of sweat, and there were no football players anywhere in sight.

But that's beside the point.

You see, the whole thing was kind of set up like a tiny section of a football stadium, or at least in my eyes. On the ground level of the floor, was where the teacher stood and taught his boring lessons. But then there was this elevated section of the room that kind of resembled a staircase, where us students got to sit and "learn." The stair things were wide, and placed on the stairs were partner-desks. If you didn't catch that, they're desks that you share with a partner.

Are we on the same page now? _Great_.

Of course, there was this _huge_ window to the left of all the desks, with the most amazing view of the forest behind our school. Or at least, in this classroom. Windows have the views of some _crazy_ things these days.

I'd prefer not to give an example.

"Ah! I can't believe it! We're actually all here together!" I turned my attention away from shuddering at the window, and towards Olette who was squealing loudly with Kairi.

I couldn't help but chuckle at their excitement as we all crowded around the ground level of the classroom. All one hundred of us. So, yeah. You can probably imagine how squished we all were, but nobody really cares since it's the first day of school, and everyone's just kind of in that mood.

Well, being packed together so tightly that everyone has to practically recycle each other's air supply always tends to break me out of that mood.

"Dude. Where's our damn teacher?"

"Hey! Who you callin' the goddamn teacher?"

I practically peed myself as I recognized the voice, fighting the instinct to turn my head and look at the man with the commanding voice. I actually think I would've won the battle against myself, and probably would've remained ignored by my new teacher if Tidus, Sora, and Hayner hadn't started snickering like mad men, making the teacher turn angrily in their direction, before laughing maniacally.

"Aw, why if it ain't Aerith's boy! And the other one, too!"

I nodded slowly, my face still burning, while Sora nodded eagerly before screaming, "AH, UNCLE CID!" My twin ran towards our apparent Astrology teacher, arms wide and expecting a hug. "We haven't seen you in forever!"

The older man rolled his eyes before holding out a hand to stop my older brother's advances. "Ah, I remember now. You're the one that's on crack." Sora pouted and crossed his arms immaturely, before opening his mouth to retort angrily. He was interrupted though when Cid ruffled his hair and laughed, a cigarette that I hadn't noticed before still protruding out of his mouth. "Ah, don't object kid. You know that that just ain't happening. And I'm not your uncle, remember? I'm your ma's friend. How many times have we gone over this?"

Sora opened his mouth to say something again, but Cid simply pushed him off to the side, and leaned in to look me straight in the face. I couldn't help it. My heart started pumping crazily, and I could feel myself pale. _Don't worry, Roxas. He won't remember. Or he will remember, but he won't hold it against you. Remember, you were only four. He won't hurt you. He won't-_

But his expression said otherwise. His eyes had narrowed slightly, and he puffed the smoke out of his mouth directly into my face. As I coughed and waved my hands frantically to get it away, he laughed wryly, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "I remember ya too, kid! Yer the one that asked if I could teach you how to swim. . ."

I couldn't help but gulp at the memory, which made him laugh harder, some members of the class laughing along awkwardly. He then pushed me backwards a bit, before running up to his desk and slamming one of the drawers on it, immediately gaining everyone's attention. "Alright, listen up all of yous. The name's Cid Highwind, your new Astrology teacher. My motto is, 'Screw up in my class, and you're probably fucked." He laughed again wildly, causing a majority of the class to cringe.

Ah, Uncle Cid must be high.

"Um. . . Is he allowed to behave like this?" I heard Olette whisper to everyone in general.

But apparently, Cid heard it too. "Hell yeah I am! They wouldn't dream of firing the great creator of the Highwind Gummi Ship!"

There were gasps of surprise that sounded throughout the room, but out of all of them, it was Olette that seemed to be the most shocked. "N-No way! _You're_ the famous Cid Highwind! ?"

He rolled his eyes and plopped down into his chair, before carelessly throwing his feet onto the top of his desk and leaning back. "The one and only."

For the next five minutes or so, he let us kind of just mingle in the classroom, not attempting to get us seated or anything like that. But as soon as his cigarette burned out, he was suddenly all business. "Alright, kiddos. Time for class to begin. Cid Highwind's the name, teaching all your kiddies is my game. . .the one that I'm forced to play, mind you."

Someone on the other side of the room mumbled something that was incomprehensible to my ears, but it seemed like Cid heard it perfectly fine, because he turned and growled at the kid. "Hey! Shut the hell up! This is my turf, and if you don't wanna fail my class, I say you respect that. Besides, didn't you hear 'bout the new rule?" He cleared his throat dramatically and picked up one of the papers on his desk, "'First Period teachers are to assign seating arrangements for the entire first semester that are to be used in every core class by the student. If there are any complaints. . .' Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys get the point. Screw with me, and I'll sit you with someone lame."

He smirked at some of the frightened expressions of some of the kids before chuckling. "Alright, well. . . Since I didn't take the time to figure this out during my _vacation_, I'll just make this up as I go along. . . Hey, you. Yeah, you. No, not you, _you._ You guys are sitting there. No, not in the first row. How about the fourth one back?"

And thus, Mister Highwind commenced randomly placing everyone with each other.

Sora sat with Tidus.

Hayner sat with Riku.

Kairi sat with Selphie.

Namine sat with Olette.

Xion sat with Pence.

Shocking enough, when it was only two minutes until first period was over, I still hadn't been placed. In fact, all of my friends had ended up sitting with each other, and I couldn't help but pout knowing that I would be the odd one out for a whole _semester._

"Aw, look at poor Roxie, the last one left. Looks like you might be sitting alone for an _entire_ semester." I couldn't help but deepen my frown at the nickname and even more so at his words, but I remained silent. "Oh, wait! There's one more kid left on my roster. . . Alright, Roxas, you're sitting with a Mister Hope Aden Estheim."

I blinked and looked around the room. Okay, what the _hell?_ The only people that were still standing on the ground level were Cid and I. There was absolutely no Hope in sight. Or rather, no hope in sight.

Ha! See what I did there? Hope, _hope_? Like, Hope as in the kid, and hope as in the-

You know what? I don't feel like explaining that clever play on words. My English teacher would be proud.

I turned towards Mister Highwind, opening my mouth to ask him if I would seriously be sitting alone for the entire semester, but before I could get the words out of my mouth, the bell rang. And with a smirk, he waved me out of his room.

* * *

"Aw, is poor wittle Roxie wearing his pouty face?" I shot a glare at my brother, and merely growled in response. "Wow. Feisty one. What seems to be the matter, brother dearest?"

I rolled my eyes. "Am I seriously going to have to sit alone for an _entire_ semester?"

Sora shrugged, "Who knows? On the bright side, at least you'll have more space."

"Whatever. I just hope that that Hope kid shows up."

Sora simply shot me a smile before pushing the doors to the music hall open. "Gosh, where is everyone? I thought that almost all of us had music classes second period."

"Who knows? They probably just took the long way around or something."

Sora nodded, continuing his advance down the halls. "There! The guitar room!" He exclaimed, before forcing the door open and opening his arms wide, "OH, GUITAR ROOM, HOW I MISSED YOU SO!"

Geez, _someone_ overdid it with the Cinnamon Rolls.

"Why, if it isn't my favorite students!" The familiar chuckle and voice forced both me and my brother to turn.

"Mister Fair! I thought that you and Mister Strife were switching positions!"

"What did I tell you guys? Your mom's one of my best friends! You guys call me _Zack_ and _not_ Mister Fair. I'm sure that Cloud's thinking the exact same thing."

The two of us turned to follow his gaze, our eyes immediately meeting the bright blue of the blonde teacher. "Mister Strife!"

"Dammit, Sora! I just told you to call him Cloud!"

Sora simply ignored him, and raced towards our blonde instructor, who didn't see the random hug coming, and stumbled backwards slightly. I laughed at this too, "Well, you know Sora. He never really learned how to follow directions."

Zack nodded, still chuckling. He made his way over to me, and ruffled my hair playfully. "That's right, you were always the better twin, right Roxas?"

I smirked in affirmative, and as if on instinct, we both turned towards Sora, waiting for his inevitable comeback. But my twin was still attached to Cloud, and the older man tried half-heartedly to push him off, but to no avail. With a sigh, Cloud seemed to give up, only making me and Zack laugh harder.

It took a while for the two of us to successfully detach Sora from my mother's longtime friend.

As we took our random seats on the floor, I couldn't help but notice the mass amount of people that had accumulated in the room. Dang, a lot of people must be suddenly interested in Guitar this year.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to Guitar, or in some cases, Piano!"

I blinked. What the hell was Zack talking about? There were no pianos in sight. Heck, no one had brought their guitars today either, so there weren't even any _instruments_ in sight.

"Now, I'm guessing that some of you might be a little confused, so I think we owe you an explanation." I merely rose an eyebrow at the statement, believing it to be kind of obvious that an explanation was necessary. "I'm sure that you're all aware that last year, I had been in charge of the Guitar classes, while Cloud here," he gestured to Cloud, who waved his hand to acknowledge the fact that he _was_ Cloud, "taught all the piano classes." Everyone in the room just nodded, and some kids had already begun dozing off, not that Zack had noticed. "And so, you all probably knew that we were supposed to be switching positions, too." Now there were even less nods than before, most people not really embracing the fact that Zack was telling a story.

But it seemed that Zack had finally noticed the lack of attention, and he rolled his eyes, the previous animation and his excitement disappearing slightly from his face. "Long story short, I'm the Piano Teacher now, and Cloud's the Guitar Teacher, but since the classrooms are right down the hall from each other, we decided that we'd combine our classes every once and a while."

Cloud cleared his throat before speaking up, "Actually Zack, _you_ decided that."

Laughter sounded throughout the room, before Zack crossed his arms and pouted childishly. So childishly in fact, that his immature pout could rival Sora's.

Yeah, that says _a lot._

"Whatever. So basically, you'll be getting to spend a lot of time with students from the other class." A few people cheered, but to me, the news didn't make much of a difference. No one in our friend group had taken up Piano, so it wasn't like I'd have a sort of extra period with them.

Zack smiled triumphantly before turning his attention to Cloud. "_See?_ I _knew_ it was a good idea."

Cloud merely rolled his eyes, but a smile still graced his features, showing that he was still in a good mood. "Don't get too cocky, Zack. You still forget that we have to keep this whole thing a secret from Principal Ansem. You know that he probably won't react too well to the fact that we're meshing our classes together."

Zack's brows furrowed a bit, and he opened his mouth as though to retort Cloud's statement, but suddenly his eyes seemed to widen like he had forgotten something, and he turned to face us. "That reminds me! Make sure that Principal Ansem doesn't find out. If he does. . ." He mimed having his head cut off, complete with a sickening sound effect.

Cloud scoffed. "Zack, you continue to forget that his full title is Ansem the _Wise_. I think that he's going to find out eventually."

Zack guffawed at him, before pointing an accusing finger at him. "'_Oh, ye of little faith. Why did you doubt?'_ Ha! I get extra points! Genesis would be totally proud of me right now!"

His blonde companion actually chuckled. "_Right_. You continuously forget that Genesis quotes the poem, '_Loveless_' and _not_ the Bible."

Zack continued to glare at him, and I could practically see the gears turning in his head, desperately trying to come up with a comeback.

But apparently, none came. "Well. . . Well. . . We have to take attendance!"

Cloud smirked smugly, knowing that he had won although Zack would never admit it.

I'm pretty sure that I wasn't the only student that was completely entertained by their bickering. It was obvious by the light laughter and grins that were consuming the room.

"Well, you'll have to hurry, _Mister Fair_," Zack's glare seemed to intensify at Cloud's sudden mock politeness, "because we only have about three minutes of class left."

Zack's expression of playful anger was immediately wiped off his face and replaced with a look of shock and worry. "What the heck! ? W-W-Where did all the time go?" I had to agree with him, it felt like we had just gotten in here!

One of the girls in the class, whom I associated with the name Rikku, raised her hand, and didn't bother for either one of the teachers to call on her before she started talking. "Erm, Mister Fair? For a majority of the class period, you and Roxas were trying to pry Sora off of Mister Strife."

Zack's face took the shape of a round "o," while Sora turned red, Cloud's eyes narrowed at the memory, and I commenced cackling.

That's right, _cackling._ Don't judge.

Instantly, Zack's expression transformed into a determined one. He grabbed a clipboard off of a nearby table, and pulled a pen out of its place behind his ear. "Alright! We have to get through this, fast! Okay, let's see. . . Do I have a Paine Abernathy?"

And thus, Zack commenced screaming out names of piano students, each one quickly screaming "Here!" to keep up with his tempo. Cloud merely chuckled at his friend's antics, before standing up and saying (loud enough for us all to hear him, but not loud enough to snap Zack out of his reverie), "I hope my Guitar Class doesn't mind that I'm marking you all as present."

The Guitar Class, and even a few members of the Piano Class, laughed lightly at Cloud's statement, which seemed to be a whole lot easier than Zack's rushed roll-call.

"Hope Aden Estheim!"

I blinked. The name sounded so familiar. . . wasn't that the name of my desk partner?

"Uh. . . Hope Estheim?" Zack's brows were now furrowed in slight confusion, seeing as this was the first person that hadn't responded to his call. He quickly glanced at the clock, and realizing that there was a little less than a minute left, his eyes widened, and in an exasperated voice he screamed, "Last call for Hope Estheim!"

At that very moment, the door to the Guitar Class was forced open. All attention was immediately placed on the door, the outburst sudden and random. Panting heavily was a boy our age, with long, disheveled hair, that was practically silver in color. But not like Riku's hair. It was kind of just _tinted_ silver or something. I think. It was kind of cool, but at the same time it seemed eerily familiar. I couldn't really see his face since he was bent over, still breathless, his right hand clutching the bright pink tardy slip holding the door open. His clothes looked kind of disheveled too, like he had changed on the way here or something.

Still hunched over, he made his way forward into the classroom, waving the tardy slip in the air like a flag. "I'm. . . Hope. . . Estheim. . ."

Ah. So _that_ was my desk partner.

I couldn't stop the grin from appearing on my face. I wouldn't be sitting alone after all! Sure I've never seen this kid before in my life, but I'm sure we could get to know each other. . .

Oh shit.

Hope had finally straightened up, and after he took in the classroom and his surroundings, his eyes instantly bored into mine.

And at the exact same moment, our eyes widened pretty considerably.

Hope. . . He was the Panera Bread worker that I had accidentally knocked out. Well. . . that explains why his hair seemed so familiar. . .

He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get any words out, the bell rang, and a swarm of rushing teenagers stampeded out of the door, making me lose sight of the boy.

* * *

"Roxas, was that –"

I nodded slowly, my eyes still wide from the initial shock. "Yeah. That was the guy from Panera Bread."

For some strange reason, part of me expected my brother to take pity on me and give me some advice as to how to handle my situation. But I guess that that part of me forgot that I was dealing with _Sora_. And Sora simply laughed maniacally. "DUDE! Your life _sucks_."

Thank you, Sora.

I simply groaned in response, throwing my arms in the air in an exasperated fashion. "What do I _do_? I have to sit next to him for four of my seven classes for an entire _semester_!"

Sora simply laughed. "Sorry Roxie, I'm no good with this kind of thing. Try asking Olette? She's good when it comes to advice."

"I don't see her until fourth period!" I whined, "And I won't have time to ask her! She's practically on the other side of the classroom!"

Sora rolled his eyes. "It's called 'Passing Notes,' genius."

Oh, right.

I decided not to respond to that, and figured that I could use this elective to brainstorm what to say to Hope. Besides, my next teacher was Miss Tifa Lockhart, another one of my mom's close friends. She'd probably cut me some slack if I'm not paying too much attention in her class.

In a daze, I hadn't even realized when I had plopped down in a random chair next to Sora until Tifa started talking. "Bonjour! Bienvenue à la troisième période français."

I blinked, shocked at the sudden overload of French that came my way. It wasn't until I remembered that this was another _AP_ class that I realized that I couldn't just breeze through this like I had in previous years.

"Bonjour, Miss." I guess we all had the same sort of idea, because we had all said that in unison, like a bunch of mindless zombies.

Tifa smiled. "Good morning class! Welcome to your new third period. I know that most of you probably didn't even think about French over your Summer vacation, so before we do anything else, I want you to find someone that you don't know very well, and have a conversation with them in French!" She clasped her hands together, as if proud of her idea.

With a groan, we all got out of our chairs, and before I knew it, Sora had left my side to find a partner, and I found Hope next to me, eyeing me suspiciously.

Oh, _great_.

"Bonjour. . . "

I gulped, before responding. "Bonjour. . . Hope."

"J'ai besoin de vous parler de quelque chose." _I need to talk to you about something._

My mind raced with thoughts and possible meanings. Whatever he was going to say, it couldn't be _that_ bad, right? "Bien sûr, à quel sujet?" _Sure, about what?_

He bit his lip, before twiddling his thumbs. "A propos de ce matin, de retour à la boulangerie." _About this morning, back at the bakery._ I had to admit: Although this kid may possibly be holding a grudge against me (which is totally understandable), he had kickass French. "Je pense, il me semble, je crois bien que –" _I think. . ._

I decided to interrupt him before he could say anything, almost kind of scared as to what he had to say to me. I mean, I really didn't mean to hit him! "Oui. . . À ce sujet. . ."_ Yeah. . . About that. . ._

He looked at me, as though expecting me to continue. But honestly, I had no idea what to say. Was I just supposed to flat out tell him that I was sorry for knocking him out, and then running out of the restaurant with stolen goods? Or was that too frank? I mean, I couldn't really think of any other way to say it, and he must be a really nice kid if he hadn't cursed me out or threatened to beat me up yet. . .

I opened my mouth to just flat out apologize, but then I saw the huge bruise on the side of his head, and the guilt came flooding back. Did I seriously hit him _that_ hard! ?

He looked at me curiously, I guess I had stayed quiet for so long. "Vous disiez. . .?" _You were saying. . .?_

I scrambled for words, but French wasn't coming to me. Heck, not even _English_ was coming to me. Thankfully, Tifa saved my sorry ass.

"C'est fini! Bien fait classe! Veuillez vous asseoir à la baisse." _Alright! Well done class! Please sit back down._

Hope shot one last look at me, with an expression that I couldn't read, before turning on his heel and heading back towards his seat. I did the same, not knowing what else to do. As I sat back down in my chair, I couldn't help but bury my face in my arms. It's the easiest way for me to think.

"Oooh, quelqu'un cherche bouleversés. Ce que vous avez deux parler?" _Oooh, someone looks upset. What did you two talk about?_

I didn't even have to look up to know who was trying to talk to me. "Shut up, Sora."

* * *

"Roxas?" I didn't even turn in acknowledgement of my name. "Uh, you're not seriously angry at me, right?"

I blinked in confusion. Wait, what? I turned to look at my twin, who was the same height as me, my eyebrows furrowed slightly in bewilderment. "Why would you think I'm angry at you?"

Sora looked confused himself. "Well, you were just ignoring me our entire third period. I figured you were angry."

Ohhh, _that_ was why he thought I was upset with him. I quickly debated whether or not I should admit to him that his voice was annoying me and so I had decided to tune him out, but decided that I might come off as rude. _Might. _"Oh, uh. . . No, I was just thinking."

Sora nodded slowly before the grin became evident on his face once more. "Oh," he laughed as if he didn't know what else to do. "Uh. . . thinking sounds pretty cool!"

"Yeah, well, you should try it sometime, Sora."

I fought the urge to laugh as Sora whirled around to face the offender. Of course, it was none other than our longtime, silver-haired friend. "SHUT UP, RIKU!"

He merely chuckled and opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by a feminine giggle. "I don't think Riku's capable of doing that."

Riku's surprised expression only made the auburn-haired girl laugh harder. But Sora simply cheered, "Yeah! I knew that Kairi would be on my side!"

"I never said which side I was on," she said with a smirk, pointing her nose upwards as though pretending that she was better than him.

Sora simply guffawed, "But _Kairi_, you're _always_ on my side!"

Kairi playfully scoffed. "What made you think that?"

Sora looked down, scrambling for words before blurting out the first thing that came to mind, "Because you love me!"

Kairi's eyes widened in shock (probably at the random claim of the statement), and Sora himself seemed to be shocked that he had said the words too. But when Kairi opened her mouth to respond. . .

"Ah, but Sora? Love is quite the conditional thing."

Olette seemed to have come out of nowhere, but there she was, walking in front of me, Naminé at her side. When she had gotten there, I have no clue. Sora's brows furrowed, "Well, I. . . Umm. . ."

"He probably doesn't even know what 'conditional' means."

"TIDUS! YOU PROBABLY DON'T EITHER!"

"Yeah, well. . . WHATEVER!"

"Don't you 'whatever' me!"

"Who are you, my mom?"

"WILL THE TWO OF YOU SHUT UP, OR ARE YOU JUST INCAPABLE OF THAT? !"

Oh. It seems like Selphie was still suffering from her terrible hangover headache. Sora and Tidus both turned to look at her with her oversized designer sunglasses covering her eyes and her messy hair. Then they looked at each other with an expression that resembled fear before childishly pointing at the other and yelling, "He started it!"

Selphie growled, making them both instantly shut up, but making the rest of us laugh.

We pushed the doors open to the Calculus room, before throwing out bags into our seats and resuming our conversations around different parts of the room. We have ten minutes to get from class to class, and it seems like we had gotten here early.

It wasn't until Hope entered the classroom about four minutes before the late bell rang that I was reminded that I needed to ask Olette for advice about how to apologize to him. Even though she was laughing it up with Hayner and Pence who had entered the room not too long ago, I pulled insistently at her arm. "Olette, I need to ask you something."

She smiled, "Sure, no problem, Roxas."

Hayner's skeptical gaze followed me as I led her away, but I chose to ignore it. I'd tell him about my situation later too. "So, I sort of have this problem. . ."

Her expression instantly changed to one of worry. "What?"

I turned to point out Hope to her so that she'd be able to associate a name with a face, but when I did, he seemed to be advancing towards Naminé who seemed to be sketching something in an isolated part of the room. Olette followed my gaze before raising her eyebrow curiously, completely forgetting that I had to ask her something. "Is he. . .?"

I had no idea what she was going to say next, but I guess it didn't really matter. I gave her a look, one that said, "Let's casually walk closer over there so that we can see what happens," and she gave a slight nod before following me towards the desk.

Trying my best to remain inconspicuous, I asked, "Oh, so you don't mind me reading your new story, right?"

Olette seemed to catch my drift, and she nodded slowly. "Yeah, just let me get it out of my bag. . ."

We instantly stopped talking since we had gotten into a close enough range to hear what they were saying. I felt a sudden pang of guilt, realizing that I was technically invading on their privacy, but what can I say? Olette and I were curious.

And _nothing_ stops curious teenagers.

"N-N-Naminé? Is that you?"

The girl in question looked up in surprise, before her eyes widened considerably and her jaw practically dropped. "_Hope_?"

He smiled sheepishly before nodding. She quickly got out of her seat and threw her arms around his neck.

Olette and I turned to look at each other. Wait, they _knew_ each other?

When Naminé pulled away from him, there was this huge smile on her face, and there was one just as big on Hope's.

"You know, I thought I saw you today. . ."

"This morning, right? Panera's? I wasn't sure if it was you or not, and I didn't want to say anything if it _wasn't_ you, and –"

"I knew it! I was going to say something too, but. . ."

Well. That explains the strange looks they were giving each other this morning. But before we could hear anything else, the bell rang, and a tall man with brown hair stalked into the room.

"Welcome to AP Calculus. I'm your teacher. You can call me Mister Squall."

* * *

"Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!"

"Sheesh. A little overdramatic there, Tidus?"

Tidus simply rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm just starving. We can finally have Lunch!"

Tidus was right. I mean, what kid in their right mind _wouldn't_ look forward to our thirty minute lunch break?

"I want to go _home._ Screw lunch!"

Okay, well _other_ than Selphie. She's not in her right mind anyway.

"Well, where are we sitting today?"

"Never mind that, what are we _eating_ today?" Several eyes widened at Pence's innocent question, mine included.

You see, we started this tradition back in our Freshman year. On the first day of school, we'd all bring some food (like two or three people would bring different giant bags of chips or something), and we'd all share it instead of settling for the crappy school lunch. I mean, the first day of school is always sort of important. And important things deserve good lunches.

But looking at everyone's guilty faces, we had all forgotten. Well, except. . .

"I can't believe you guys forgot!"

Olette.

"Well, 'Lette. . . You know, Selphie's party and all. . . It was really late. . ." I scrambled with my words as I attempted to make a good excuse.

Then again, this was _Olette_.

"Well, that's _your_ problem you guys. Did any of you even bring _money_?"

There was an embarrassed murmur that sounded throughout our mini-mob of friends.

Figuring the obvious, Olette facepalmed herself.

"Aw, c'mon 'Lette. . . You can't really blame us. . ."

Olette shot daggers at Hayner, before pulling her backpack off of her shoulder, and smacking Tidus with it. "Ow! What was _that_ for! ?"

Olette simply rolled her eyes. "Oh come _on_, Tidus. I'm not stupid. You were practically tearing my backpack apart trying to find my food!"

Tidus groaned, "I hadn't even opened it yet!"

"Olette probably just reads minds."

She opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the simultaneous growling of practically _all_ of our stomachs. Instead, she sighed in an exasperated fashion before plopping down onto the cafeteria's floor and pouting childishly.

"_Olette_, c'mon. Get up."

She shook her head wildly. "No."

Kairi bent over slightly so that she could see Olette more eye to eye. "Well, why the hell _not_?"

Olette simply shrugged. "Cuz I don't _feel _like it."

The auburn-haired girl merely narrowed her eyes. "You do understand that since you don't _feel like it_, you're not going to be able to chase Sora and Tidus who picked up your backpack and _ran_, right?"

Olette's eyes widened, and they quickly darted to where her bag had previously been abandoned on the floor. Sure enough, it was gone. Olette jumped up, her eyes darting around the cafeteria murderously. "They. Took . My. _Food_."

My eyes widened as Olette dashed off after my brother and Tidus who were still skipping away with her bright, white backpack, belting out what seemed to be a battle cry as she ran.

"Should we help her?"

I turned to look at Riku incredulously. "She's planning to _murder_ my brother and Tidus. Shouldn't we be helping _them_?"

Hayner, who had been standing next to me, spoke up. "Well, since we all know that Tidus and Sora are idiots that are bound to run into a wall or something and be caught by Olette, I think that we should just help speed up the process. Besides, if we help _Olette_, then she might be happy with us and share her food. . ."

It seems like Kairi, Xion, and Pence had heard, because we all shot each other a mere glance before screaming our _own_ battle cry, and charging after Olette.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

After heroically rolling on the floor, jumping over tables, dashing around spilt food and drinks, and ignoring the bewildered looks of the lunch ladies we ran past, all while screaming at the top of our lungs, we finally were able to catch up to Olette who had managed to jump both Sora _and_ Tidus. She was now sitting on their two bodies, a brown paper bag in her hand, and her white backpack at her feet.

We had skidded to a stop a few inches away from her, and had pushed Hayner in front of us, hoping that he'd be able to negotiate for some food. Olette was still sitting on top of Sora and Tidus (the two looked absolutely defeated) as though it was the most casual thing in the world, yet she looked menacing, almost like that fat queen lady from Alice in Wonderland.

Don't tell her that though, or she might think that I indirectly called her fat. And we all know how girls can freak out when they think that someone called them fat. . .

Hayner still had yet to say anything, and I swear I saw him shaking. Olette simply giggled and said, "So? Who wants lunch?"

The six of us cheered, and Tidus and Sora attempted to too, but Olette merely plopped herself harder on their bodies. "Except you two. You stole my food. You don't count."

I think that I saw them both beginning to tear up.

"B-B-But. . . "

"_FOOOOOD!_"

Olette merely shook her head, and based on her facial expression, she seemed to be holding back her own laughter. But she stood up and walked over to one of the empty lunch tables. The picnic bench ones that could seat like. . . up to twelve people or something. I don't know, I never really counted.

Anyway, we all crowded into the lunch table. _All_ of us. Meaning Riku, Kairi, Olette, Pence, Hayner, Xion, and I. Sora and Tidus were rubbing their sore muscles gingerly, and I think that if I squinted enough, I could make out Selphie's hunched form outside of the glass doors puking into a bush.

That poor plant.

Olette was back to her normal, non-food crazed self, and after a couple of seconds whimpering from both Sora and Tidus, she gave in, and agreed to share her food with them.

Of course, we had yet to know what Olette had even brought for lunch.

Slowly, almost dramatically, she opened the brown paper bag. All of us were practically _drooling _with anticipation. She reached into it, and began to pull something out.

I swear I could feel my heart beating like crazy, which was only somewhat ridiculous.

"That. . . That's _it_! ?"

Olette smirked, yet even that looked almost skeptical. In her right hand was a single homemade sandwich, covered in Saran Wrap. "Well, yeah. . . I mean. . . Tidus said he would be bringing a whole box of pizza, so I figured that my sandwiches weren't really important. . ."

I think that all of us all just _died_ in that one moment.

"Hey you guys, Hope doesn't have anywhere to sit, so. . ."

We all looked up simultaneously at the quiet voice that belonged to none other than Naminé. Next to her was Hope, who looked kind of nervous but was carrying a whole lunch tray of food.

Without even thinking, a majority of us stood up and screamed, "HELL YES!"

The two newcomers smiled skeptically, before sitting down.

"Food at last, food at last! Thank God Almighty, I have food at last!"

Hope blinked, and opened his mouth, probably to question Tidus' current mental health, but before he could say anything, Kairi pointed in some direction and screamed, "Look over there!"

And while he wasn't looking and as Kairi continued to distract him, we all picked slyly at his food, gathering as much as we could take without being too conspicuous while Naminé looked on in amused shock.

* * *

"Hope? It's official. You're officially my new favorite person in the whole world."

Hope simply smiled, but is was still kind of a skeptical smile, almost as if he wasn't sure whether or not he should be smiling. "Um. . . Thanks. Are you _sure_ that stealing my food was absolutely necessary?"

Riku simply nodded and patted him on the back. "Yup, completely necessary. But it's official. You're now part of the gang."

". . . Should I feel honored?"

"Extremely."

I nodded in agreement, not sure what else to do, and still preoccupied with my thoughts. I mean, I _still_ had no idea how to apologize to him, and no idea whatsoever seemed to be coming.

Soon enough, we all got into our fifth period of the day, English Language. Unfortunately, Pence had accidentally knocked over a lunch lady during our epic chase after Sora, Tidus, and Olette, and thus we were forced to clean up the food she had dropped. It wasn't so bad though. I mean, twelve people cleaning a single serving of macaroni and cheese? _Puh-lease_. We cleaned _that_ up in like. . . three seconds.

I think. I don't know, I didn't actually count.

But whatever, it's not like we were late or anything. In fact, right when we all shuffled into the classroom, the bell rang. So yeah, _not late._

"Welcome class. I am Genesis Rhapsodos, your new English teacher. I enjo –"

I automatically tuned out his voice, knowing that most likely he was going to give us some long, agonizing speech about himself. And frankly? I didn't really care.

"Hey. . . Roxas?"

I blinked, and turned to my left, where Hope sat next to me. "Yeah?"

"Um. . . About this morning. . ." Hope's voice was barely a whisper, a slight moving of his lips. He was still facing the front of the classroom where our teacher continued to drone, but whenever he or I spoke, his eyes would flicker towards me as though to prove that he was actually listening to me.

I gulped, knowing that the moment had finally come. "Yeah. . . About that. I'm really sorry, dude. For everything." His eyes flickered to me again, but this time they lingered longer, as though he was trying to read through me or something. He had yet to say something, and so I continued. "You know, for knocking you out, and stealing all that food. . ."

To my surprise, Hope actually smirked. "Don't worry. There were these two lookalikes of you and your brother in the store, and I just put all the blame on them."

I blinked in surprise. Whaaaat? "Why?"

The smirk was still dancing on his face as he answered me, "_Because_, it took me a while, but I finally recognized Naminé. And when I realized that you guys didn't have enough money, I was going to offer to pay the rest, but you sort of just. . . well you know. Smacked me." He simply shrugged before continuing, "But if you're friends with Naminé, then there's no way I'd let you be punished. Anyone who's Naminé's friend is mine too."

I resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow, or scoff, or tease him or anything like that since after all, he _did_ get me out of trouble. Instead, I simply asked, "So. . . Who were those guys that you blamed?"

Hope simply shrugged again, "These two college kids. I think their names were Ventus and Vanitas. . ."

* * *

By sixth period, I was honestly wondering _why_ the first day of school was such a big deal. When I stepped into AP History with some guy named "Reno Turk" as our teacher, all I wanted to do was pray that we could go home soon. Or better yet, we could just skip the whole learning part of school, and automatically go on to Prom and Graduation.

But God already sent me food (through Hope of course), and so I doubted that he'd take enough pity on me to give me a time machine too.

There was a nudge from my left, and as I turned, I realized that Hope was holding something in his hand and trying to give it to me.

Oh. It was a note.

_ONLY FOR THE EYES OF KAIRI, SELPHIE, XION, NAMINE, OLETTE, SORA, ROXAS, HAYNER, PENCE, RIKU, TIDUS AND HOPE._

I smirked. Ah, Kairi was quite the creative one. Quietly, I unfolded the note and peered inside. In pretty, girly handwriting were the words:

_Okay, I think that it's safe to say that I'm not the only one who's about to die of disinterest. And so, I've decided that I shall start the first ever 12 person note! :D_

And in a messier scrawl that I could only guess was written by Hope were the words:

_You've got that right. But how are we going to know who says what?_

Oooh. This was an easy one.

_Roxas: Duhh. All you have to do is write your name before you write your message, and we'll know who's who. Simple enough._

I smirked, and carefully passed the note on to my right towards Hayner and Riku. Then, I patiently waited for the note to make its way back to me. But it took _forever_. And I mean_ ages._ It takes a while for someone to think of a response to a note, and then they have to write it out all secret like so the teacher doesn't see, and then we have to_ pass_ it all secret like.

And so, I was practically on the edge of my seat with excitement when I got the note back.

_Hayner: Yeah, sounds cool to me._

_Riku: same._

_Pence: Yah. Did we have homework in any of our classes?_

_Xion: No, it's the first day of school Pence._

_Tidus: What class are we in again?_

_Sora: I just realized how feminine my name sounds with the 'a' at the end._

_Olette: I'm not sure how to respond to either of you._

_Namine: ^Same._

_Selphie: My head hurts._

_Kairi: Erm. . . We're in History. And Sora. . . I worry for you. Selph, that's __your__ fault._

_Hope: . . ._

My jaw dropped at the pathetic conversation that was currently taking place within the note. I had waited _forever_ just so I could read _that_?

_Roxas: You guys are boring. I'm texting Axel._

I passed the note to Hayner, knowing that by the time it got back to me (_if _the note got back to me) the class would already be over. I pulled out my phone, and quickly typed out a message to Axel.

To: Axel  
From: Roxie

_Text me. I'm bored._

I expected having to wait a few minutes for a response, but almost instantly Axel texted back.

To: Roxie  
From: Axel

_How interesting. Now, Im debating whether I shud pretend 2 b a responsible adult n tell u 2 pay attention in school, or b da good best friend n keep u company. Im also wondering if I cud get away wit pretendin 2 have a huge hangover so I can go bak 2 making out wit Larx._

_But I decided Id just annoy u wit text speak._

To: Axel  
From: Roxie

_. . . I'm honestly not sure how to respond to that._

To: Roxie  
From: Axel

_Den theres da possibility dat sora is rubbing off on u. Or dat ur so bored u dont kno how 2 react 2 my awesomeness._

To: Axel  
From: Roxie

_. . . If I text you afterschool, will you just stop with the textspeak? I think that it's starting to destroy my brain cells._

To: Roxie  
From: Axel

_I make no promises._

To: Axel  
From: Roxas

_Whatever._

To: Roxas  
From: Axel

_;D  
Now if you don't mind, I'm going to continue making out with my girlfriend. Don't die from lack of brain cells, I don't think you can get those back. But maybe that smart fact that I just stated will make a difference if you open your mind to the enlightment._

I rolled my eyes. Yeah. I felt pretty enlightened.

* * *

"Hmph. I'm not _boring_."

"Yeah, well, Sora? You're kind of stupid. In a way they're the same thing."

"Actually, Roxas, stupid people are usually more entertaining compared to smart people. Just saying."

"Yeah. Coming from a stupid person."

Olette pouted. "Aw, c'mon you guys. Stop the bickering."

I simply shrugged and we continued onward to the final period of the day: Gym. The end was so near, and yet so far. But still, I'm sure that Gym wouldn't be so bad. Especially since we had a pretty crazy teacher. . .

"Yuffie Kisargi, at your service!"

I think that she thinks she's a ninja.

We all piled into the Gym, and sat down on the numerous bleachers. Since it was the first day of school, we didn't really do much other than buy our gym clothes if we didn't have our own, get assigned our lockers (separate from the ones we use occasionally in the hallway), and pretty much just talk. Coach Yuffie didn't really care. I honestly think that she's in her own little world half of the time.

"Hey, listen up!"

We all turned to look at our short teacher. Honestly, she could probably pass for a high school kid. She was _that_ tiny.

"I'm supposed to give you some big speech!"

I blinked. She was supposed to be giving those out _every_ year on the first day of school. It always said so in the pamphlets she handed out. But it seemed like this year was the first year that she had actually read the obligatory pamphlet herself.

She cleared her throat before pulling out a folded piece of paper from her pocket and reading it out loud. "Welcome to the Twilight Town Academy Gym. I'm your teacher, Yuffie Kisaragi!" We all nodded slowly. We were Seniors. All of this was kind of obvious. "In this class, you will do many different sports, and you will all have the opportunity to try out for all kinds of different sports like Blitzball, Soccer, Basketball, or even Football. We encourage you to try out for these sports. . ."

As she spoke, all of the energy in the room kind of died out. She just seemed to drone on and on, and honestly? It was making me extremely tired.

But it doesn't matter. Coach Yuffie was practically deaf.

Kairi, Olette, Xion and even Selphie were talking about who knows what. It was probably girl stuff or something.

Sora, Hayner, Riku, Tidus and Pence had dragged Hope into their conversation, but the boy kept glancing at Naminé, who had gone back to sketching something in her book. It was obvious that he wanted to talk to her, but didn't want to come off as rude.

Since Naminé was the only one that wasn't in conversation with someone, and since I was kind of just curious about her in general, I stealthily made my way towards her on the bleachers, the Coach still blabbering on.

When I was close enough to her, I gently tapped her shoulder to get her attention. Surprisingly, she cringed at the touch, flipped her book closed, and turned towards me, eyes wide and almost frightened. But I guess that she soon realized that it was just me, because she seemed to relax a little.

"Uh, are you alright Naminé?"

She nodded slowly, suddenly becoming the ghost girl again, clutching her sketchbook to her chest and biting her lip. The previous color on her cheeks seemed to instantly disappear.

I'm not sure what possessed me to say what I said next, but I said it anyway. "Do you just, _not_ like me or something? You never seem to be happy when I'm around."

Her eyes widened slightly in shock at my claim, and she quickly responded, her tone laced with hurt. "Of course not! This is just how I am. It's not your fault. Trust me, it's not."

I looked at her skeptically. "Alright. . ." An awkward silence formed, Naminé had begun playing with the spiral of her sketchbook, and I had resorted to reluctantly turning towards the Coach as she continued to blabber on. It didn't take long for me to become bored again though, and I turned back to Naminé, not knowing what else to do. "So. . . You know Hope?"

She simply nodded. "Yeah, we used to live in the same place together. He's a childhood friend."

"Oh, cool. . . ." I let my voice trail off, since I honestly had no idea what to say. But whatever possessed me before seemed to possess me again. "Naminé, why are you so quiet?"

She blinked before looking at me, a frown tugging at the edge of her lips. "P-Pardon?"

I bit my lip, realizing what I had said and that I had probably come off as rude. I searched for some words that would explain myself, but none of them came. And so, I decided to improvise. "I mean, I know I haven't known you for long. I just met you last night. But compared to all of us, you seem so quiet, so. . . alone. Well, maybe not alone, but. . ."

Naminé was looking away from me now, and down at her lap. "I-I'm sorry. . ."

I blinked. Huh? "Why are you sorry. . .?" I could practically feel the dangers of the water that I was beginning to tread on, but I knew that I'd just have to tough it up.

She sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I should just forget, right? Just forget it all?"

I was seriously becoming more confused by the minute. "Forget what?"

But she shook her head, and I felt a pang of hurt as I realized that she was trying to tune me out. I guess I had struck a chord in her, and it was making her go through a revelation of some sorts? I honestly wasn't very sure myself. All I was really sure of was the fact that I felt like I was invading her personal space. I mean, I always hate when people bother _me_ when I'm thinking, so. . .

I got up to leave her to her thoughts, but she grabbed my wrist, gently pulling me down. "Wait. . . don't go."

Not knowing what else to do, I sat back down. Her slim fingers were still grasping my wrist tightly to the point that it was starting to ache, and it seemed that she had set her sketchbook down. She was still staring downward, but if I angled myself properly, I was able to see her expression. And she looked. . . extremely focused about something.

What seemed like hours later, she finally looked up at me, and there was a light smile on her lips as she finally let go of my arm. "You're right." I didn't know what to say, so I settled for not saying anything at all. "I promise. . . I promise that I'll be happy now. That I'll forget. Is that better?"

I honestly didn't know what to do. What was she talking about? I stumbled over the words in my head, and when I finally managed to get some words out, they didn't even come out the way they were meant to. "W-Wait. Forget? Don't, you don't have to. Uh, any of that. You don't need to forget, or. . . or. . ."

But all of a sudden, the bell rang, and she picked up her things and left. No waiting for Kairi or Hope, no words of goodbye, she just _left_.

And soon, I realized that a majority of the Gym had cleared out, and that most of my friends had already said their farewells to me. I felt a poke on my left shoulder, and turned to face my brother.

"Hey Rox, you okay?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'm fine."

* * *

**A Wishful Thought: (A Note From The Author)** I think that this chapter came out kind of dragging, so I'm sorry for that. And I think I might've rushed the relationship with Hope, too. And Nami's sudden change of heart! D: I hope it was interesting though!

And did you guys see that? I threw in Hope. Yes, he's going to become kind of important, but don't worry about it too much. All you really have to do is look up a picture of **Hope Estheim** so that you're able to connect a face and a name. But don't worry, I think he's the only FF character that's going to be extremely important. I think.

Since I don't speak French, I ended up using an online translator to get all of the French spoken during French class. XD I'm not sure how accurate it is, so it would be awesome if someone could correct me! Haha, I think I need a beta. Anyone interested?

I'm sorry for the lateness of the chapter, and the mass overload of words it takes up. Almost 10,000 words you guys. I think I've outdone myself. XD

Next chapter, Aerith comes home, and Roxas remembers that he forgot about his shoe (again). And a somewhat long text message conversation, or a phone call. I haven't decided yet. XP

PLEASE _**REVIEW**_! :D

"And everywhere I go I see her face! Even in Facebook or my notes and texts! And everytime I see her, my heart just..." I smirked and held up my drawing. Roxas smacked my head, "Sora, don't be stupid! Loves doesn't exist!" Yeah, you keep believing that Roxas.

"I just can't get her out of my head. On Facebook, or texting, or passing notes, she's always there. And when she's there, my heart just-" I smirked and held up my drawing. Roxas smacked me, "Sora! Don't be stupid! Love doesn't exist." Yeah, keep believing that Rox.


	6. An Awkward Conversation and Dinner

**A Wishful Thought:** Daang. I am one bad cookie. :/ It feels like I haven't updated any of my stories in forever (which I haven't) but I've been so stressed out with all my schoolwork and such, that I haven't found time to go on. And I'm so irresponsible, that I typed up a one-shot instead of working on the update for my ongoing stories. O_O Ah, the guilt has really started to settle in.

Thank you SO MUCH to **someonethatceebsloggingin, Gumi Harue, Misfortune XIII, Future X13, Sato Tadashi, KeybladeMaster97, and Unknown** for reviewing, and all the new story alerts and favorites too! :D I literally spazz out for joy every time my phone dinged and I realized that I had another review. :D Since I wasn't able to respond to any of them, I hope no one minds if I respond to them all at the end of the story? :]

And without further ado, I present to you the latest update of N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +. (And I must apologize for it's somewhat filler-ness.)

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of the characters. Unfortunately.

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _Chapter Five- An Awkward Conversation and Dinner_

"Roxas. . .? Roxasssssss . . ? ROXAS!"

I blinked, somewhat confused and at the same time kind of surprised.

"I've been trying to get your attention since like. . . forever!"

"Sorry, bro. I was just. . . thinking."

"You do that too much. Eventually your brain is going to explode from your over-thinking of things, and I will be sitting there, laughing at your pathetic doom in the background."

"Err. . . Thanks?"

"It's no problem. I'm just speaking the truth."

I nodded slowly before turning my attention away from Sora. Currently, he was kind of freaking me out. Well, he does that on a daily basis, but right now I wasn't exactly in the mood to put up with his. . . behavior. Yeah, let's call it that.

You see, although it would've been fun to come up with an insult to shoot at my dearest brother, my mind just seemed to be preoccupied.

With Naminé.

I know, I know. It's weird isn't it? I just met this girl last night, and all of a sudden, I just. . . She's all that I can think about.

Whoa, that sounded creepy. Let's try that again.

Okay, I can't get her out of my mind, but not in the way that _you're_ probably thinking. I mean that I can't get her out of my mind because she's so _weird_.

Oh, that sounded mean.

_What I mean is_ that she's just so. . . different than what I'm used to. Kind of almost like a mystery, you know? She acts so strange, it's just. . . like a new puzzle that you got, and you can't stop thinking about the said puzzle because it's so perplexing and peculiar and you want to understand the puzzle so that you—

Ugh. Words are failing me today. I'm not even going to try anymore.

Before I even realized it, Sora and I had arrived back at our house. Shocking enough, Sora had remained courteous enough to remain quiet while I thought. Either that, or he'd been blabbering the whole way back and I've just become adept at tuning him out.

So I'd say that the latter is what's most probable. This _is_ Sora that we're talking about.

"—So _I_ said that maybe we should. . .Oh look. We're home!"

Exactly.

Our house wasn't exactly big, and it wasn't exactly small. But it was perfect in my eyes. It was a simple single story, formerly white house. We hadn't been keeping up with the responsibility of repainting it every now and then, so even though it was supposed to be white, it just. . . isn't. We have a decent sized backyard in the back, but it's nothing special. My mom uses up all the space in the back for her flower garden. I can't really complain though. Those flowers are _really_ pretty.

For a minute or two, Sora and I just stood awkwardly on the doorstep until I remembered, "Oh snap, _I_ have the keys today!"

I shot a glance at Sora to see his expression, but suddenly all of his energy disappeared and he looked kind of nervous, but like he was trying to lie about being nervous. Then again, Sora's a _terrible_ liar.

Though I was kind of suspicious about his sudden change of behavior, I shook the thought away, and began hunting in my backpack to find the keys. But then I took one look at my keychain (which just so happens to be a red Converse shoe) and instantaneously remembered something.

"SORA!"

My brother (who had been facing away from me, "admiring the shrubbery") turned to face me, eyes wide and guilt written all over his face. "I DIDN'T DO IT!"

I narrowed my eyes in silent anger. "You're a terrible liar."

He laughed nervously, as he always does when he's in situations such as these. "W-W-What're you talking about?"

I could feel my glare intensify, and some small part of me smiled when I watched Sora wince, though it was very slight.

Ah, I could be so evil.

"YOU DIDN'T PICK UP MY SHOE LIKE YOU SAID YOU WOULD!" I yelled, before dropping my bag on our porch and turning away from my twin.

"Hey!" I could hear Sora stomp the short distance over towards me, and I couldn't help but growl when he grabbed my shoulders and roughly forced me to face him. "I _NEVER_ SAID THAT I WOULD PICK UP YOUR STUPID SHOE! YOU SAID YOU WOULD FORCE ME, AND IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOU FORGOT!"

My brain scrambled for an angry retort so that I could yell at him, but nothing seemed to come. And so I blurt out something random that would probably succeed in confusing Sora.

But I'll have to be honest here, that's how I _usually_ win these arguments against Sora.

"YEAH, BUT I WAS THINKING ABOUT_ . . . STUFF. SO _I COULDN'T _POSSIBLY_ HAVE REMEMBERED TO FORCE YOU TO PICK UP MY SHOE!" Realizing how lame that sounded, I scrambled for something to add on. "You should've reminded me."

Sora frowned, as though thinking my statement through. Slowly though, a smirk consumed his features, and I couldn't help but flinch. That _smirk_. That _stupid, smug_ smirk.

"Ooooh laalaaa! Here I was, thinking that you were thinking about something weird and _nerdy_, but the way you said that. . ." He trailed off before moving in closer to me, and nudging my side. "What kind of _stuff_ were you thinking about?"

I felt my face go red, and I turned to stare at him in shock, eyes wide. My previous anger was gone and was surprised by a sort of. . . astonishment. I mean, how did _Sora_ catch that? I'm pretty sure I hadn't done anything to give it away. My twin brother was wiggling his eyebrows suggestively which only made me go redder.

"I. . . I. . . I. . ."

I think that I must've done something to get on God's good side, because he saved my sorry old butt once more.

Just when it seemed like Sora had grown twenty feet and a Hitler-style mustache, our front door swung open, revealing the welcoming face of our mother.

"Sora? Wait a second. . . I thought that _Roxas_ was the scary one. . .?"

Instantly, Sora turned, a huge grin on his face. "_Mommy!"_

On the other hand, my jaw had dropped. "Whoa, the _scary_ one? I'm not _scary_!"

My mother smirked, her bright green eyes twinkling mischievously. Before she could respond, Sora engulfed her in a giant hug. I guess we had grown more than I thought we had, since our mom was barely at Sora's shoulder.

While still hugging her, Sora turned his head to shoot me a knowing smile, one that was enough to make me realize that he wasn't going to let the subject drop. When he would decide to bring it up again, I had no idea.

Part of me desperately wanted to stomp off angrily into the house, lock myself in my room, and refuse to answer the door. But when I took a step forward, my mother came back into view, and I felt a pang of guilt for not greeting her better. I mean, I hadn't seen her for _three freaking weeks_.

Before I could think of what to do next, Sora grinned and screamed, "GROUP HUG!" then grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the embrace.

Though I was a little annoyed with him, I couldn't help but smile.

But just a little bit.

* * *

"You boys took care of the place well. Part of me expected our house to be in ruin when I got back."

Sora and I nodded carefully as we trailed after our mother. She didn't have to know that we cleaned the entire kitchen this morning because Sora had managed to make pancake batter explode. Naw, that was something we could probably keep to ourselves.

"Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

Mom had taken a seat on the sofa. A majority of her chocolate-brown hair was pulled back with a familiar pink ribbon, and the rest of her hair framed her face perfectly. She had layered two thin dresses over one another. The dress that was on the bottom was the exact same shade as the pink ribbon in her hair, and the dress that was over that was pale blue with pink flowers spread around it. Together, they went down to a little bit above her knee. It doesn't really seem like a motherly outfit of any sort, but our mom isn't that old at all. In fact, she had just turned thirty-five this year. But she honestly looked like someone in their mid-twenties.

"We have a bunch of new students. Kairi's cousin is one of them!"

Mom's eyes flashed towards Sora, and for a second I thought I saw a flash of worry spread over her face, but I must've been mistaken, because instantly her expression changed to one of surprise. "Oh, really? What's her name?"

"Naminé Soto. She's kind of weird if you ask me," Sora said calmly. He had dropped his backpack off at the front of the house, and was striking his signature lazy pose. You know, the one where he puts his arms behind his head?

Even though I had thought something extremely similar in my head, I couldn't help but feel a sudden rush of anger at my brother for actually saying it out loud. I mean, no one's actually _weird, _right? There's always a reason, right?

My mom's eyebrows instantly furrowed at his words, and she stood up right away, an expression of anger evident on her face. "_Sora William Hikari!_" Sora flinched at the usage of his full name. "That was so _rude_! You can't just _say_ that about someone! I'm sure you know absolutely _nothing_ about her!" She took a few deep breathes as though to calm herself down more. She wasn't exactly _angry_. No, our mom never really _gets_ that angry. But still, she hated raising her voice on us, and hardly ever did it. When she seemed to regain her composure, she smiled at my brother apologetically. "What I mean is that maybe you should get to know her before you jump to conclusions. It's kind of unfair, don't you think?"

It took a while for Sora to get over the initial shock of the fact that our mom seriously _yelled_, but when he got over it, he nodded slowly before smiling. "I think I'm just going to get something to eat then."

And like that, the subject of Naminé was dropped.

I don't know if I expected more out of it, or what, but I stood there for a while as though waiting for my mom to say something else. But she had resumed her seat on the sofa, and was absentmindedly flipping through channels on the TV.

I felt my brows furrow in slight confusion, but the feeling quickly passed. We're the Gainsborough-Hikaris. This is practically a daily event in our little family. We question just enough to annoy each other, but we stop before we actually dig into each other's lives. So I guess we're just a tight-knit family that appreciates privacy if it makes sense.

Not knowing what else to do, I turned to walk to my room and play my guitar or something, but my mom called for me to stop. "Roxas?"

I turned around again to face her. "Yeah, mom?"

She smiled at me before speaking, "I'm having some friends over tonight for dinner."

I nodded, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. "Just the usual?"

The smile was still on her face, and her eyes were looking far-off into the distance as if she was thinking about something else while she talked to me. "Yeah."

"It's not a problem with me."

In fact, it would be exciting. A majority of my new teachers coming over tonight to eat dinner at my house? _Fun._

* * *

At around six, the doorbell rang, signaling our guests' arrival. Or at least, _some_ of our guests. Not wanting to be rude, I put down my guitar back down into its' case, and exited my room to greet our visitors. I heard footsteps behind me, so I didn't have to turn to know that Sora had gotten the same idea as me.

"Evening, Aerith. Enjoy your trip?"

"Aerith! I haven't seen you in a while, huh?"

I smiled. _Of course_ Zack and Cloud arrived first. I might just be imagining things, but I think they both have a thing for my mom. And though I find that just a _little _bit creepy (I mean, they _are_ my teachers after all!), I have to admit that they'd each be awesome step-dads. They, along with Tifa, have known my mom since _elementary school_, so the four of them are the best of friends. They met Uncle Cid when they were in middle school, and when he was in high school or college. The story's kind of old, so I'm not very sure which one it is. My mom's only _slightly_ acquainted with our crazy Gym teacher, Miss Kisaragi, so I don't think she'll be coming tonight.

My mom grinned widely at the two of them, and seemed to have raced over to the door in excitement. "Zack, Cloud! I've missed you two so much!" She tackle hugged the two of them, causing them both to stumble back slightly.

"The feeling's mutual, Aerie," Zack chuckled, and I couldn't help but smirk at his nickname for my mom.

Okay, remember how I said that I think that they each have a thing for my mom? Well, Sora thinks so too. And so, between the two of us, we have a little bet. I'm Team Zack, while my brother is Team Cloud. I'm pretty sure that _I'm_ right, since Cloud and Tifa have known each other practically since _birth_ and are probably going to get together, but Sora begs to differ.

Is it weird that we're both betting on our own mom's love life?

"Come in, you guys." The smile was still on my mom's face. But now she had grabbed Cloud's wrist and was dragging him off into the kitchen, while Zack trailed after them.

Soon enough, Zack caught sight of me, and if possible, his grin widened. "Why, if it isn't Roxie!"

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Well, of course. I _do_ live here after all."

He smirked before ruffling my hair and gesturing for me to follow him into our kitchen. It seemed as though Sora had run off after Cloud, since he was already in the kitchen when Zack and I got there.

My brother was looking between the two of the older men, before glancing at my mom and sighing exasperatedly. "But where's the food?"

Zack chuckled, while Cloud simply smiled. "Tifa said she'd pick it up."

Sora nodded while I groaned. "I'm guessing we're having pizza _again_?"

Cloud laughed lightly, "What do you mean _again_?

Zack's eyes had widened and his jaw had dropped. "How can you _not_ be ecstatic about having pizza for dinner?"

And my mom simply giggled.

Sora turned to look at me, mischief dancing in his eyes. "Yeah, Roxas. You should be thankful!"

Thankful my ass.

Once again, the doorbell rang. I stepped forward as though to answer it, but Cloud waved his hand, signaling that he'd go get it.

"Y'all better 'aven't started this lil' shindig without me, right?"

Upon hearing the voice, my brother instantly turned, a creepily large smile on his face, before running off in the direction of the front door screaming, "UNCLE CIDDDD!"

I heard a loud oomph coming from the front door, but decided I wouldn't bother looking too much into it. I heard the sound of the door opening again, and a startled, "Oh mon Dieu!" rang throughout the house, along with the heavenly scent of freshly baked pizza.

Maybe pizza for dinner isn't so bad after all.

* * *

It took a while, but eventually we all sat down at the table, and began marveling the extra large sized boxes of pizza that rested before us, along with the several liters of soda and the several boxes of breadsticks of course. Then, we all shot each other a quick glance before standing up and throwing as much food as physically possible onto our plates.

"Hey, _I_ wanted that slice!"

"Ya snooze ya lose, _sucker_!"

"Ah! Sora, that was my _finger_ not a slice of pizza you dimwit!"

Oh, the joys of a dysfunctional get-together.

I dramatically lifted a piece of cheese pizza to my mouth, inhaling its intoxicating smell. Just by smelling it, I could tell that it was going to be impossibly fattening and greasy, and that I'd probably regret eating it later, but none of that mattered at this point in time. I was going to eat some freaking pizza. I opened my mouth slowly, relishing the moment, even though there wasn't a real point to relishing it. Just as I was about to stuff the entire thing in my mouth, the door bell rang.

It seemed liked no one else had expected the ringing either, because we all looked around, kind of puzzled, trying to think if there was anyone that was supposed to be here but just wasn't. And it seemed like no one had come to mind, because everyone (including myself) was shooting curious looks at my mother.

With a sigh, she stood up out of her chair to get her door. And just like that we commenced eating again. I mean, my mom would take care of it, so there wasn't really a problem anymore.

"Oh, I think it's Kairi!"

My brother's eyes widened, and he instantly dropped his slice of pizza back onto his plate. He stood up hastily, and began wiping off the pizza grease onto his jeans. All the men at the table either smirked at him or gave him a knowing look, while Tifa simply shot him an encouraging grin, which only made Sora blush lightly before he ran off towards the door.

Remember how I said that my family always respects each other's privacy? Well whenever we have guests over, that whole philosophy just goes down the drain.

As soon as Sora left the room and my mom re-entered it, we kind of just sat at the table awkwardly, no one even touching their food anymore, the same exact thought plaguing us all. Slowly, our gazes seemed to mesh with each other's, the exact expression on all of our faces. And just like that, we all seemed to make an agreement. Even my _mom_.

Quietly, we snuck closer to the front of the house. Close enough that we could hear what was going on, but far away enough that we were out of sight.

"—didn't expect you over tonight."

I had to fight the urge to crane my neck to see the two interact. But I imagined Sora nervously wringing his hands together behind his back where Kairi couldn't see him.

"Uh, yeah. Um. . . Can I talk to Roxas?"

The surprised eyes of the five adults immediately shifted towards me. It had been known by practically everyone that Kairi and Sora were meant to be together, and they probably thought that I had done something to make her suddenly want to talk to me. But that wasn't the case. I mean, _I_ didn't even know why she wanted to talk to me!

Sora had probably been openly surprised too because, I mean, Kairi and I aren't really that close. Out of all the girls in our friend group, I'm closer to Olette, not Kairi. Knowing that Sora was probably making a fool of himself while trying to cover up his shock, I carefully strode towards them, making it look like I had come from the dining room table. "I heard my name?"

Sora nodded slowly, and shot me a look. I didn't exactly have time to decipher what it meant though, because Kairi grabbed my wrist, and pulled me out onto the porch. Before I even knew it, Sora had shut the door closed, and I could only imagine that he was probably upset with me.

Oh, I'd have a lot of explaining to do this time.

"Uh, so what's up, Kai?"

She was wearing exactly what she had worn to school, and there was a serious sort of expression on her face, one that was making me nervous. Her auburn hair was messier than it usually ever is which told me that she had probably rushed over.

"What in the world did you do to Naminé?"

I blinked. Okay _whaaat_?

I guess that Kairi caught the puzzled expression on my face because her eyes softened a little, a bit of the seriousness disappearing. "She didn't even wait for me so that we could walk home together, and when I got home worried _sick_ about her, she was all sunshine and rainbows and happy polar bears."

I nodded slowly. Why did Kairi think that this had anything to do with me? "Um, Kai, I don't think that—"

And then it hit me.

_Naminé was looking away from me now, and down at her lap. "I-I'm sorry. . ."_

_I blinked. Huh? "Why are you sorry. . .?" I could practically feel the dangers of the water that I was beginning to tread on, but I knew that I'd just have to tough it up._

_She sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I should just forget, right? Just forget it all?"_

_I was seriously becoming more confused by the minute. "Forget what?"_

I couldn't help but widen my eyes slightly in realization. Was she actually serious?

_"You're right." I didn't know what to say, so I settled for not saying anything at all. "I promise. . . I promise that I'll be happy now. That I'll forget. Is that better?"_

_I honestly didn't know what to do. What was she talking about? I stumbled over the words in my head, and when I finally managed to get some words out, they didn't even come out the way they were meant to. "W-Wait. Forget? Don't, you don't have to. Uh, any of that. You don't need to forget, or. . . or. . ."_

_But all of a sudden, the bell rang, and she picked up her things and left. No waiting for Kairi or Hope, no words of goodbye, she just_ left_._

"Oh, Kairi. . . I—"

Kairi put up her hand to stop me from talking, and I could tell that it was something she didn't really want to do, but that it was something that she felt like she _had_ to do.

"You don't have to tell me, I understand that it might be private." I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. What did she think that I _did_? And _why_ did she come here if she didn't even want to hear what happened? "I just wanted to say thank you."

This was getting more and more confusing by the minute.

Kairi actually giggled at my confused expression, before sitting down on the steps leading up to the porch, and patting the seat next to her, gesturing for me to sit with her. I hesitated at first, but I mean, what the hey?

Once I sat, it got quiet for a while. I was still trying to comprehend everything that had just happened, and Kairi was maybe just stalling for time because she didn't want to go home. Who knows?

"You know, Naminé hasn't smiled for more than five seconds the entire time she's moved in with us." I felt my eyes widen once more in minute surprise, and I turned to look at Kairi, who was now watching the wonderful oranges, reds, and pinks of the sunset. "Not until today. When I got home, she just seemed so. . . _happy_. I haven't seen her like that since. . . well since a very long time."

Whoa. Did _I_ do that?

"Maybe she was just happy that she got to see someone from her childhood. Her and Hope seem pretty close." Even as I said the words, I knew that they weren't really true. Sure, Naminé was probably happy on seeing him, but she wasn't all smiley after they had reunited. It seemed like she hadn't gotten like that until _after_ we had our awkward little conversation.

Kairi's eyes flickered towards mine, and in them I could see that she didn't actually believe what I had just said. "Rox. . . I don't know what you did, or how you did it, but thank you _so_ much. She's been through a lot, you know?"

No, I actually didn't know, but I couldn't find it in me to interrupt her.

"Just keep. . . Doing whatever you're doing, Roxas."

And with that, she pecked me on the cheek and ran away.

Dude. What the _hell_?

* * *

**A Wishful Thought:** What did I just do here? I have no idea. It seemed kind of dragging, didn't it? I meant to throw in some humorous stuff, but I guess it didn't really work out. And I TOLD YOU that this chapter would end up kind of filler-ish. XP But at least I threw in some **foreshadowing**. I wonder if any of you caught it. . . ? ;D

I think that at one point in the middle of the story I switched from past-tense to present-tense, but I'm not even sure anymore. I just really want to get this chapter out. XD

And I'm not sure that I caught **Aerith's personality** very well. **Any tips** for it?

**Someonethatceebsloggingin:** XP Such a creative nickname. Haha, I love Hope too! He's just adorkable. Thanks so much for reviewing!

**Gumi Harue:** :D WOOT! I'm so glad that you like Axel's name. I was trying to think up a last name for him, but all I could think up was one that a different author had used, and I didn't want to take it from her. So I was thinking about it, and I was just like, "Oh, what the hey. Axel would probably think it's cool." XD Oh, yay! I wasn't really sure how I wanted their brotherly relationship to be, so I just started writing and went with my gut. I ABSOLUTELY **LOVE** HOPE TOO! At first, I was debating whether or not I should throw him in since he's not from the KH franchise and that it might throw some people off. And then I also realized that I couldn't really think of anyone else that would be able to play his role in my story. Who knows about the love triangle business? As I made Olette say in the last chapter, ". . . Love is quite the conditional thing." ;D

And I'm hoping that I'm not rushing her sudden brightness, but it feels like I am. XD I just really want to get into the main plot of the storyline! Anyway, thank you SO MUCH for your kind review and for reading my story. :') Even though you said that you don't usually review, I hope that you tuned in for this chapter and got to read it! :D

**Misfortune XIII:** Yay! :D I hope you had a good birthday, even though I missed it because of all my stupid schoolwork. -_- Whew! I'm glad that you liked the chapter. When I was writing it, I was trying to make it more descriptive, because I was hoping that when someone was reading it, they might be able to get the same mental image that I got in my head when I thought of Sora and Roxas and their friends and all their strange ways. XD Hope _is_ adorable, ain't he?

Love triangle? I have no idea what you're talking about. . . *whistles innocently*

TEEHEE. (Thank you for reviewing! ;D)

**Future X13:** Oh yay! I'm glad that you liked the chapter, and I hope that you liked this one too. :] Thanks for reviewing!

**Sato Tadashi:** I originally wasn't planning to do something like that to Roxas. XD But when I was thinking about the future of this story, I figured that I might as well throw in Hope. He's just so cute! I know, I think I'm making Naminé a little on the loony side which wasn't supposed to happen. It just kind of. . . _flowed_ so I went with it. XD

Thank you so much for your feedback! :D I hope that this chapter was a little less dragging, but I kind of doubt it. XP *dies*

**KeybladeMaster97:** I know, the whole Panera guy thing was pretty random, wasn't it? XP I think that the whole lunchroom scene was probably the easiest (and funnest!) part of the chapter for me to write because I could practically see it happening in my head. I think that I gathered inspiration from my friends though. XD I could definitely see them pulling something like that. Actually, I think that I based a majority of the friend group's random antics on things that me and my friends have actually done. XD I was planning on making the passing of the notes longer, and then I realized that it would be terribly difficult to carry on a note-passing conversation with so much people, and so I just got lazy and made it short. And threw in Axel of course, because I haven't thrown him in in a while. XD I'm glad that you liked Sora and Roxas' short conversation on their way to Gym! I saw it on your profile, and it absolutely made my day. :3

Thank you so much for reviewing the last chapter, and I genuinely hope that you liked this one too! :D

**Unnamed: **I'm starting to wonder the same thing now. XP I think that I may be rushing the whole lovey dubby thing. XD You know, that actually makes so much more sense than what I had written. Ah well, I guess we can just say that whoever their dad was wasn't entirely on the genius side if he had an affair in his own house when his kids were supposed to be coming home, huh? XD

ANYWAY, thank you SO MUCH for reviewing! :D I'm glad that you like my story, and I hope that you'll continue to read it. :]

**Next time. . . ** A short time skip (just a few weeks) to the weekend! *breaks out into Friday by Rebecca Black* Ahem. It shall be filled with all those wonderful college freaks, begging for forgiveness, and a day in the mall/park/outside the school. ;D

Please _**REVIEW.**_ :D


	7. The Roxasnapping

**A Wishful Thought:** Whoa, I think I'm proud of myself. I've found time to start on the next chapter _early_! XD I can't really think of much to say in this Author's Note, but I'd like to thank:

**makiru**, **Ashcroitt**, **Unnamed Gumi Harue**, **akemithebazookagirl**, **KeybladeMaster97**, and **Sato Tadashi**

for reviewing! :D And thank you to everyone who's alerted or favorited this story! You guys are awesome, too! :D

Hm. . . In this chapter I threw in two somewhat **random POV changes**. XD But don't worry, I think I made them **pretty obvious**. Most of it is written in Roxie's point of view though! :D

**Disclaimer:** I've said this quite often. I just. . . don't own Kingdom Hearts or the Final Fantasy characters that I mercilessly threw into this story. So please don't sue me. XD

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _The Roxasnapping_

"Okay, Roxas. I know you're home. JUST ANSWER THE DOOR ALREADY!"

I groaned and forced myself to get up off of the coach.

Roxas here. I think that I'm absolutely miserable. Like, seriously.

After Kairi pulled that random move (in which she kissed me on my cheek and ran away), practically _no one_ is talking to me. Especially Sora, and that really worries me. I mean, sure we get into fights all the time, but he's never actually _ignored_ me like this before. In fact, a lot of people have been ignoring me lately. And I mean. . . I didn't even _do_ anything!

When I had finally gotten over the initial shock and confusion, I opened the door to reenter my house. My mom, Tifa, Uncle Cid, and Zack all had to stumble away all awkwardly from the windows, because apparently they had been watching me and Kairi. Sora had been leaning against the wall, a scowl evident on his face, while Cloud had sat on a nearby chair, looking at the scene before him skeptically. As soon as I had actually entered the house, Sora glared at me before grumbling, "I'm going to my room."

After he marched off, nothing really got better. Tifa opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but then quickly closed it. Uncle Cid looked kind of bored and annoyed by the whole spectacle, and was probably going to say so until Tifa shot him a pointed look. Cloud kept his gaze fixed towards the floor, probably trying to make everything a little less awkward for me. And Zack and my mom just gave me that look that said, "I'm very disappointed in you," and I couldn't help but cringe a little at their gaze.

Eventually, we all made our way back to the dining table to finish out food, but it seemed like no one (other than Uncle Cid) was really that hungry. And on that note, they all mumbled their goodbyes before leaving the house.

And so, ever since the first day of school, Sora has been ignoring me. He won't talk to me. He refuses to even walk or stand beside me, even to the point that he skateboards to school by himself. He won't even _look_ at me. Or Kairi.

Some of our friends have been pulled into the mess too. Riku and Tidus have been giving me the cold shoulder just as much as Sora. Pence and Xion just seem confused about the whole thing. Hayner and Olette are confused too, but they're at least trying to help me get through it. Naminé just seems to be going along with it too, but probably only because of Kairi, and Hope'll follow Naminé in whatever she does. Selphie's been yelling a lot though. At pretty much everybody, for pretty much _no_ _reason_.

And Kairi? Though this _is_ technically her fault for kissing me on my cheek (it sounds terrible, but it's the truth!), I really do feel bad for her. She and Sora were best friends, they were just _so close_. She's tried to explain everything to him, she's told him over and over again that it was just a kiss on the cheek, and that it didn't mean anything. That she didn't see why it was a big deal that she wanted to talk to me, and not necessarily to him.

"_I was just saying thank you! It's what people do, Sora! Is that what you're so upset about! ? Or is it because I wanted to talk to Roxas for once, and not you? Sora, he's my friend too! If you'd just hear me out, or tell me why you're so upset . . .!"_

I don't think that she realizes that Sora's had feelings for her for a long time. But I think that she's the only one that hasn't noticed. I want to just tell her, "He's obsessed with you! _That's_ why he's so angry!" But I know that Sora would be pissed if I told her.

The doorbell rang again, but this time more impatiently than before, "ROXAS!"

I sighed, remembering that I was supposed to be answering the door. I was home alone again. Mom was at work, and Sora had left the house early this morning. No one else but me would answer it.

Once I had reached my destination, I pulled open the door lazily. "What do yo—" Before my eyes stood a pale girl with reddish brown, somewhat wavy hair. She wore a sheer, white peasant blouse that was short sleeved and tight at the bottom, but loose everywhere else, and dark green short shorts. "Olette? What're you doin—"

She waved away my question, and bent her knees a bit while walking so that she could come into the house under my arm. I opened my mouth to tease her about coming into my house uninvited, but the seriousness of her gaze made me change my mind. "We need to talk."

I felt my heart sink, and in that very moment I felt like crawling into a hole and dying. Not _again_.

Catching the expression on my face, she rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Roxas. I promise it won't be so bad."

I shot a tiny glare at her, before closing the front door shut, and slowly advancing towards the kitchen. "Anything to drink?" She started to shake her head, but my eyes narrowed a little more. "I'm sure you're thirsty."

She sighed, before skeptically saying, "Lemonade, please. . ."

I nodded and gestured for her to sit atop of the island counter that was placed in the middle of our kitchen. She hesitantly did so, and took to playing with her fingers.

I continued to pour the lemonade into the glass. "Uh, so what did you want to talk about?"

I sort of expected her to be all slow and skeptical about telling me, but she blurt it out right away. "You and Kairi and Sora need to make up."

A small part of me had the feeling that something like this would be brought up sooner or later, but the larger part of me was still confused. "You think that I haven't _tried_ to patch things up with my brother?" I averted my gaze from her so that I could properly cap on the lid of the lemonade container. When I was finished, I handed the glass to Olette, who nodded in thanks, then stuffed what was left of the lemonade back into the fridge.

"Of course not. . . It's just. . . We all talked about it. And ignoring each other like this just . . . isn't healthy."

"Well, _I'm_ not ignoring him!"

"Yeah, I know you're not. But we need to get him to _forgive _you. And to that, we're going to have to get Sora to forgive _Kairi_."

I shot a skeptic look at her. "How were you planning to do that . . .?"

Olette smirked wryly at me. "Well, Axel has a plan of course."

I felt myself pale considerably.

* * *

"HAYNER! DUDE, WHAT THE HELL! ? GET OFF ME!" I struggled to free myself of Hayner's grasp, but the blonde didn't seem to falter at all.

"Roxas, I'm trying to _help_ you."

"HOW IS BREAKING ONE OF THE WINDOWS IN MY HOUSE AND THEN CAPTURING ME IN A FUCKING _HEADLOCK_ HELPING ME! ?"

I heard Olette giggle. "Well, it _was_ Axel's orders. I didn't break my character, right? I seemed totally nervous and serious, right?"

I kept my lips shut, refusing to answer her. I felt Hayner roll his eyes and tighten his hold on me, only causing me to yelp out in pain. "Yes! Yes! I didn't see anything coming!"

Oh, how far the mighty have fallen.

"Hey, 'Lette. Hand me the rope, duct tape, and garbage bag?"

My eyes widened. "Hayner! What the hell? ! Olette, don't do it!"

But it was too late, for Olette had already disappeared to raid my house for the said items. I grit my teeth angrily. _This_ was Axel's plan for getting Sora to forgive me and Kairi? !

Soon enough, Olette returned with the items Hayner had requested. "Aw, 'Lette. I promise I'll go without a fight! Why do you need to tie me up?"

She shrugged, while ripping off a piece of duct tape and slapping it over my mouth. "Axel told me that if you asked that question, I should say, 'To avoid suspicion, got it memorized? Now, don't ask any more questions, Roxie, we're doing this for your own good!'" Her voice had made itself lower, with a sharp, Axel-like feeling to it. Dang. She was really into the whole "character" thing.

I struggled to talk against the duct tape, but the attempt was futile. _How is tying me up and stuffing me into a garbage bag "avoiding suspicion"! ?_

"'Lette, reach into my pocket and pull out my pocket knife so we can finish the job?"

My eyes widened. _Wait a second . . . _finish the job! ? My eyes darted around the room frantically, desperately searching for something to get me out of my predicament. But then I realized: _ I'm one of Axel's best friends. . . he wouldn't actually give Hayner and Olette orders to kill me. . .Right?_

I forced myself to trust in the fact that I was one of Axel's favorites.

Not wanting to dwell on the _other_ fact that my life was now indirectly in the hands of a usually high or drunk college student that spent more money on hair gel than on food, I managed to wiggle myself enough to see Hayner and Olette in my peripheral vision. It was obvious that the only reason I had been able to move was because Hayner seemed to be so _distracted_.

Since Hayner was clad in a dark green polo and freaking _cargo shorts_, it seemed a little . . . _difficult_ for Olette to find which pocket sheathed his knife. And Hayner was blushing too hard to give her any help. Olette was reaching from behind Hayner, since it was the easiest position for her to reach into his pockets. But even though it was the easiest, she still had quite the distance to reach, so she was pressing herself (probably pretty hard based on the look on Hayner's face) onto his back, continuously sticking her hand in his pockets and digging around in them. Hayner was bright red and trying to look at anywhere _but_ at Olette, but with every movement she made, his brown eyes would immediately flash towards her.

If I didn't have a piece of duct tape over my mouth, I would have been playfully smirking at Hayner or laughing my head off. Either one of the two.

"Aha! I found it!"

I guess I managed to at least tease him with my eyes, because he reddened before glaring at me.

"Do you want me to cut the rope, or would you like to do the honors?"

Ah, so _that's_ why they needed a knife.

"I'll do it. Thanks, 'Lette."

I saw her smile at him, though it seemed like she could only see the back of his head. Hayner was probably still extremely red, and had turned his head so that Olette couldn't see. She seemed kind of puzzled though, "Uh, how are you going to do this since you're holding him?"

I winced, while Hayner spoke out an obviously fake and robotic apology. Probably revenge for my teasing eye-smirk thing. "Oh no. I accidentally cut Roxas with the pocketknife."

I growled. Axel's stupid plan _better_ be worth it.

* * *

"_I don't want another pretty face,_

_I don't want just anyone to hold,  
I don't want my love to go to waste,  
I want you and your beautiful soul—"_

Usually, whenever this ringtone would go off, I'd start cracking up. But as of right now, I, Sora William Hikari, wore an ugly scowl on my face. Dude, I don't _do_ scowling. It's just not my style. But, hey. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Roxas. That selfish, low-life, twin brother of mine. I'm not even sure exactly what he did, but _still_! He shouldn't have done it!

I faintly remembered _why_ I had made his ringtone, "Beautiful Soul" by Jesse McCartney. Something about a strange fangirl-ish obsession with Jesse McCartney he had when he was younger and terrible karaoke singing once at Uncle Cid's house.

Before I could even begin my debate about whether or not I should pick up the phone, the song cutoff, and my phone blinked once, before showing the missed call symbol at the bottom left of the screen. For a second, I actually _worried_ about my brother, but the feeling quickly passed.

With a sigh, I let my head rest against the grassy Earth below me.

"_You promise that you'll never ditch me, right?"_

I flinched at the memory, and immediately threw it out of my mind.

Coming here was stupid. The park was both me and Kairi's sanctuary. We'd _always_ come here. It just . . . felt wrong to be here without her. But. . .

"_I don't want another pretty face,  
I don't want just anyone to hold,  
I don't want my lov—"_

I felt my eyes instantly narrow at the cell phone that was now vibrating and bursting out into spontaneous song on top of my stomach. He was seriously calling me _again_?

I picked up my phone, only briefly glancing at the picture of me and my twin dressed up as babies for Halloween last year. I couldn't help but smirk wryly at the memory. We had bought adult sized diapers and everything.

I'm pretty sure that the old lady that had just moved in across the street from us still afraid to speak to us.

With a dejected sigh, I tapped the "reject call" option on my phone, before laying it atop of my stomach once more, and falling back to the ground.

"_I don't want another pretty face,  
I don't wan—"_

My eyes narrowed once more, and I angrily picked up my phone and threw it a few feet away from where I sat.

I smiled when the ringtone stopped. No way. I was going to stay mad at Roxas. And Kairi for that matter. I couldn't help but frown at the sudden aching in my chest at the mere thought of her _name_.

Damn, this is unhealthy.

"_I don't want anot—"_

"OH MY GOD, WILL YOU SHUT UP! ?" A few frightened toddlers widened their eyes at me before running away and screaming for their mothers. Angry once more, I stomped towards my phone, and forced myself to tap the "accept call" option. "ROXAS, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU—"

"S-S-Sora?" The voice on the other line was choked and quiet, and if I didn't have the amazing hearing that I have, I'm pretty sure that I would've missed it.

My eyes had widened considerably. "R-Roxas? Are you oka—"

I was interrupted by a fit of uneven coughs, followed by a miserable groan. "S-Sora. . . You have to . . . h-h-help me. . ."

Immediately, all my anger towards my younger brother disappeared, automatically replaced by a sense of overwhelming worry. "Roxas? What do you mean help you? What's wrong! ?"

"T-They. . . took me. . ."

"W-W-_What_! ?"

I could hear a hard slap followed by a groan, and then a different, deeper voice came on the line. "We have your brother. Come to the Gym of Twilight Town Prep, or else your brother won't ever see the light of day again." The worry was quickly swept away by an overpowering state of panic. "Don't even bother calling anyone else for help. We have our sources. Do so, and your brother gets it."

"S-Sor—"

And just like that, the line was cut dead.

"Holy. . . Holy _SHIT!_"

* * *

"CUT! You guys, that was perfect!"

My eyes narrowed once more. "Axel, what the _hell_! ? You didn't actually have to _slap_ me!"

My best friend smirked at me, before talking into his voice changer and making his voice the deep, menacing voice that he had used on Sora. "I'm calling the shots here, bitch."

I growled at the stupidity of the situation. This was probably the _worst_ plan in all of history to be freaking _forgiven_. And practically _everyone _was in on it too. Olette, Hayner, Xion, Pence, Selphie, Riku, Tidus, and even _Naminé and Hope_ were helping out. And they had _broken in_to the freaking Gym.

So yeah, this was pretty legit. But still. . .

"This is just _stupid_. Why couldn't you just lock us in a room together until he forgives me?"

Axel rolled his eyes. "Where's the fun in that?"

I muttered a string of curses at him, but the pyromaniac only chuckled at me. "Kay you guys, here's the dealio. Vanitas—"

Vanitas? Who the hell was Vanitas? I struggled to see where Axel was looking. "Axel, why the hell do I have to wear these stupid clothes?"

I heard a growl, followed by Selphie's voice, "Hey! That took me forever to make!"

Axel chuckled once more. "You're supposed to be a mafia boss, Van. Embrace the role!"

The Van (or Vanitas) guy groaned. "I'm only doing this because you promised to pay me! I didn't realize this would be so fucking _idiotic_."

"Now, now. . ."

My eyes widened when he came into view. The guy looked _exactly_ like Sora, except with black hair, and golden eyes. "HOLY CRAP, YOU LOOK EXACTLY LIKE—"

"SORA! Sora's in the parking lot! I repeat, Sora's in the parking lot!" Olette shrieked. Apparently she and Hayner were on guard duty, and had been looking out of the glass of the doors of the Gym.

"KAY. PLACES EVERYONE, PLACES!"

Where the hell Axel had pulled out a megaphone, I kind of didn't want to know.

A majority of the people in the room scurried off to find a place to hide, the only people coming forward were Marluxia and Luxord, two of Axel's college friends. Like the Vanitas guy, they were dressed in mafia like clothing, but their wardrobe wasn't as elaborate as Vanitas's. Still. . . They had fake guns and everything!

Vanitas was sitting a couple of feet behind me, in what was supposed to be an extravagant, raised chair. Marluxia and Luxord took their places on either side of them, and the lights in the Gym darkened, until there was only a single spotlight over where I sat. I opened my mouth to ask a quick question before Sora entered the room, but before I could get the words out, Axel came out of _nowhere_ and stuffed a freaking _golf ball_ into my mouth.

I officially hate my life.

The doors of the Gym creaked open, the light from the outdoors flooding into the room, illuminating Sora's silhouette. I could faintly see his expression, and he looked absolutely _petrified_.

If I didn't have a gold ball in my mouth, I would've chuckled.

His worried eyes automatically locked onto mine, and he breathed a sigh of relief before running forward towards me. "Roxas!"

I almost laughed at him, until I remembered my so-called _role_.

"_Remember, Roxie, let the character engulf you. . . "_

I scowled at the memory of Axel's words. This was so freaking _stupid_.

Sora looked around nervously before untying me from the chair. I don't understand why he couldn't take the freaking _golf ball_ out of my mouth first, but whatever. I guess it didn't matter at this point.

Eventually, he had me untied, and was about to take the golf ball out of my mouth when another light flashed on, this time, probably over Vanitas, Marluxia, and Luxord.

"Hey there, you filthy. . ."

I blinked, confused as to why Vanitas had stopped in the middle of his line. But it seemed as though Sora was absolutely shocked and confused too. "HOLY SHIT, YOU LOOK EXACTLY LIKE ME!"

I heard Vanitas growl, and stomp towards us, circling around the chair so that I could see him too. "YOU FUCKING SON OF A B—"

And that's when I remembered.

_To my surprise, Hope actually smirked. "Don't worry. There were these two lookalikes of you and your brother in the store, and I just put all the blame on them."_

_I resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow, or scoff, or tease him or anything like that since after all, he__did__get me out of trouble. Instead, I simply asked, "So. . . Who were those guys that you blamed?"_

_Hope simply shrugged again, "These two college kids. I think their names were Ventus and Vanitas. . ."_

My eyes widened in shock. Oh gosh. Axel _probably_ hadn't accounted for this happening.

Vanitas turned to look at me too, his glare intensifying. And that was when I realized it. This was the first time that he even glanced at me, ever since I entered the Gym. "AND YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TOLD THE MANAGER THAT VENTUS AND I ROBBED THAT FREAKING PANERA BREAD!"

I flinched. Actually, _I_ didn't tell the manager that. _Hope_ did. But I wasn't one to sell anyone out.

I stumbled over words in my head, before I realized that I still had the golf ball in my mouth. My eyes darted around the darkness of the Gym, desperately searching for Axel. _This_ wasn't part of the script. It _wasn't_ supposed to happen.

"SO YOU KIDNAPPED MY FREAKING BROTHER, BECAUSE WE RAN OUT OF A STUPID PANERA BREAD STORE! ?"

Vanitas frowned, a look of confusion on his face. He had probably forgotten that he had supposedly "kidnapped" me.

"Just go with it, you nimrod!"

Sora's eyes widened, "Was that _Axel's_ voice! ?"

Dammit, Axel. You're a real idiot.

"Uh. . . YEAH. I DID." Vanitas stated all awkwardly.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Sora pondered over this. "Um . . . I'm sorry? Can Roxas and I go now?"

Vanitas blinked in sudden confusion, and I heard a couple of people that were hiding out facepalm themselves.

"HIIIII-YAAAAA!" As the scream rang out, a majority of the lights in the Gym flickered back on.

Oh God. _Now_ what?

"Axel! Why are you here! ?"

This was getting stupider by the minute.

Axel had wrapped a scarf around his head, giving him the appearance of a ninja. Of course, his gravity-defying, bright red hair still protruded from the back of his head. He was in some sort of martial arts stance, and I could faintly recognize Tidus, Selphie, and his friend, Demyx behind him wearing the black scarf in a similar fashion and in their own martial arts stances. "I am part of the . . . NINJAS NEXT DOOR!"

Sora's eyes widened, obviously not recognizing Tidus, Selphie, _or_ Demyx, and just thinking that Axel was super cool and amazing. "R-Really! ?"

Axel nodded slowly. "Yes. I have come to save your brother from the hands of the evil. . . uhhh. . . GUY!"

Vanitas shot him a look, but Axel shot him one right back, forcing Vanitas to just go with it. "Why, if it isn't Axel and the Ninjas Next Door . . . my mortal nemeses."

Sora was gaping in utter awe, totally buying the whole thing. I resisted the urge to laugh at him, and could see Hope, Naminé, Hayner, Olette, Xion, Riku, and Pence sneaking out of the Gym doors. But before Naminé exited, she turned to face me, before pointing at her mouth, and miming pulling something out of it.

My eyes narrowed slightly in confusion before it hit me.

Sora untied me.

I could just take the golf ball out of my mouth myself.

I scowled, before pulling the wretched thing out of my mouth, and throwing it at Vanitas's head. I faintly saw Naminé smile at me, before running out of the door with the others as I jumped out of my chair.

Vanitas gave me a, "What the hell was that?" look, but then Axel shot Vanitas a look.

Vanitas scowled, before speaking in a robotic and obviously fake tone. "Oh no. My weakness. Golf balls. I'm dying."

He fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, Marluxia and Luxord just looking confused before deciding to run off.

I frowned at Axel. There was no way that Sora was going to buy that.

"Dude. THAT WAS AWESOME!"

I facepalmed myself. Boy, _I_ was wrong.

* * *

Right after that . . . _incident_, Sora automatically forgave me. Axel and his fellow "Ninjas Next Door" ran off after Axel had convinced Sora to promise that he would keep his true identity a secret. Sora and I had left Vanitas's "dead body" in the Gym, exiting immediately.

Sora had finally agreed to listen to my story over what _really_ happened. About how I hadn't flirted with Kairi or anything like that and that she was seriously just thanking me for helping Naminé out with something.

"So you're telling me, that you told her that her creepy silence was freaking you out, and so that's why she's suddenly all peppy?"

I nodded hesitantly. It _was_ a pretty weird happening after all.

"And so, since Kairi hadn't managed to make Naminé happy or whatever and_ you_ did, she kissed you?"

"On the cheek," I added, not wanting him to forget that part.

"Hm." I looked at him skeptically. He was sitting down on the bed in his room, while I sat on his floor. "Well then. . . I'm sorry for ignoring you. I guess I just sort of over-reacted."

I smiled at him gratefully. "No, it's okay, bro. It's understandable."

"But Kairi's so . . . _why_ did she have to kiss you on the cheek? She didn't have to do that!" He sighed dejectedly. "I bet she likes you."

I scowled. Not _this_. Anything but. "Sora. . ."

He smiled at me, though it was obviously a forced one. "Naw. It's nothing. So. . . You and Naminé, huh? Is _that_ who you were thinking about when we were walking home that one time?"

My eyes widened, and I turned away from my brother, hoping that he wouldn't realize that I had turned bright red from his words. "I . . . Uh. . ."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him smirk. "Ooh, lalaaaaa!"

* * *

**To:** Nami

**From: **Hope

_Are you sure that you're okay? You've been acting kind of weird lately. . ._

**To:** Hope  
**From:** Nami

_Weird? How so?_

**To**: Nami  
**From:** Hope

_It's hard to explain. . . You've just changed. _

**To:** Hope  
**From:** Nami

_Even if it's difficult, please try._

I couldn't help but bite my lip in slight confusion. How was I supposed to explain this?

Hey you guys, Hope here. I guess you can say that I'm going through a whirlwind of change. The scenery here in Twilight Town is _definitely_ different from that other place. . .

And Naminé. My best friend since we were four. She had changed once, and now she had changed again?

I'm not trying to complain. I mean, it _is_ her life after all. I just. . . Wish that I understood what went on in her head. I used to think that I did, but now I'm . . . not so sure.

Naminé. Even though I've known her for so long, it seems like she changes herself on a whim. And I honestly wish that she didn't. Somebody will tell her that they don't like her hair. She'll cut it off. Someone else might tell her that they don't like how she dresses. She'll change her wardrobe as much as possible. Someone might even tell her that they were angry at her for winning the art contest that they had worked so hard to win. She'd drop out.

But it wasn't always that way, and I miss when it wasn't.

I missed her ringing laughter as we skipped through the busy streets of the town. I missed the warm, fullness of her grin. I missed the innocent honesty in her very expression. I missed the way that she would crinkle her nose playfully whenever we visited the animal shelter to play with the puppies. I missed the way that she would grab my hand whenever we passed by the old castle, the nightmares that she had at night plaguing her even the day. I missed when we would read fairy tales together, each of us acting out whatever was happening in the story. I missed the way she would giggle nonstop when she had too much sugar. I missed the way that she would drink anything, pinky sticking out like a princess. I missed the way she jumped off the swing, always with her arms outstretched and flapping desperately, wishing to fly. I missed the stories she would tell me about Peter Pan, and how it was her dream to meet him and go to Neverland. I missed the way that she hugged me whenever I was sad, always promising that things would be alright. I missed the way that we would lie down on a hill and watch the shooting stars in the night sky. But most of all, I missed the sparkle in her eyes, that to me symbolized the very joy of life itself.

And yet . . . now that she was reverting herself back to the merry girl that I used to know. . . I couldn't help but feel sad.

_Why_ did she feel like she had to change herself to make other people happy?

Because to her, everyone was more important than herself, there was no need to care about what happened to her anymore. That worry had disappeared.

"_Mama said that if you make at least _one_ person smile in your entire life, then that your life was not wasted at all!_"

I flinched at the memory, and forced it away from my thoughts before it would continue to replay itself in my mind.

But perhaps it didn't matter that she had stopped caring for herself. I would be the one that would care and look out for her with all of my very soul. I would make sure that she'd finally be happy again, no matter what the cost.

**To:** Nami  
**From:** Hope

_It's nothing. I'm probably just imagining things._

* * *

**A Wishful Thought:** I think it's official. This is the _**weirdest**_** chapter** I've ever written. XD But I'm still kind of proud of myself for updating so quickly. You guys deserved it though. XP Still. It's painstakingly short. WHY CAN'T YOU BE LONGER! ? D: Oh, haha, right. Cuz I'm lazy. XD

Just a warning though, I'm probably **not going to update** this until _after_ school is over for good. So like . . . **two or so weeks**. XP I LOVE YOU GUYS? ;D

I'm not sure if this chapter came out funny like it was supposed to. I bet the whole time, you guys are just like, "Holy crap, what goes on in this girl's head?" Honestly, I'm not very sure myself. XD

I think I might've made Sora forgive Roxas a bit too early, but I just don't like them fighting. XP It's a poopface.

And I managed to throw in some random** H a y n e t t e**! XD I think that I should get brownie points for that. ;D

But by far, my favorite part to write of this whole chapter was **Hope's POV**. I had been debating when I should reveal why Nami's such a weirdo, and I think I might've just made everyone go, "Wait, I DON'T GET IT EVEN MORE NOW!" XD But there's a reason for it, and it's pretty good, I swear! I just wanted you guys to see more into Nami's random change of personality. We got to see it from **Roxas's point of view**, so now we get to see it from **Hope's**. :]

And I was hoping you guys would give the poor kid a break, even if I _am_ thinking of throwing him into a **l o v e t r i a n g l e**. XD

Still. **I should've added more** **Nami** in this chapter. I want to catch everyone with her sudden peppiness. XD

**Unnamed Gumi Harue:** YES. LET'S BLAME ALCOHOL INTOXICATION. XD  
Well, I can see where they're coming from. I mean, ROKUNAMI FOR THE WIN! :D But I'm glad that you're willing to smile upon HopexNami too. :] Haha, I hope you enjoyed this chapter then, too! :D  
Thank you so much for taking the time to review again. :D

**NEXT** **TIME**: A competition for a thousand bucks, a somewhat awkward project in their History class, and the return of either texting/notes/or Facebook since I haven't thrown much of in for a while. XD

Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter, even though it was extremely weird and random. Please _**REVIEW**_, and give me your feedback! :D


	8. Her Best Day I

**A Wishful Thought:** (A Note From The Author) Whoa. It seems like a lot of people enjoyed the last chapter, which I wasn't totally expecting. XD But yay! :D You guys are so nice to me, and every time I get an email telling me about a new Favorite+ or Story Alert+ or a review, I pretty much stop what I'm doing and commence dancing for joy. SOOOOO, thank you to:

**Vanillacrush, DestinyKeyblader28, KeybladeMaster97, Ceebslogginging, FutureX13, makiru, Ashcroitt, Sato Tadashi, **and **CupcakeLerman** for leaving me such kind reviews. :)

This chapter may not come off as crazy as the last, but I hope that you all still enjoy it!

**Disclaimer:** I _still_ don't own the Kingdom Hearts characters _or_ the Final Fantasy characters . . . but I'm working on it. ;D

**Somewhat Major Edit** as of **August 30, 2011**

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _Her Best Day Ever. . . Part One_

**Sora Hikari **is now talking to **Roxas Hikari** and **Kairi Soto** again.  
**Olette Hart**, **Axel ohmygawdimonfire**, and **78 others** like this.

**Roxas Hikari:** You had to put this on *Facebook*? Sora, we made up like three weeks ago. I think you're sort of late.  
**Riku Takama**, **Hayner Arden**, and **17 others** like this.

**Sora Hikari:** Hmph. You should just be thankful that I'm forgiving you!

**Olette Hart:** Sora, you already *forgave* them. Past-Tense, sweetie.  
_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Kairi Soto** thinks that if **Sora Hikari** says that he's speaking to her again, then he should actually *do it*.  
**Selphie Tilmitt, Xion Soren, **and **14 others** like this.

**Tidus !#$**: Nike. . . Just do it!

**Hayner Arden:** Say what now?

**Tidus !#$: **It's the Nike slogan thing! "Just do it!"

**Riku Takama:** You could totally take that phrase and make it into something perverted.  
**Axel ohmygawdimonfire, Roxas Hikari,** and **37 others** like this.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** Why, I'm so glad you asked. ;)

**Hayner Arden:** Axel! Not on the public internet! For all we know, *children* may be reading this.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** They would've heard of it sooner or later. Our current teenage generations are learning about sexually "inappropriate" things at younger ages each and every generation. In fact, I bought my first condom when I was in seventh grade. I'm pretty sure that good ol' Roxie bought his first one when he was at the wee age of seven. Ain't I right now, Roxas?  
**Demyx Nocturne**, **Larxene Flash**, and **63 others** like this.

**Kairi Soto:** *dramatic sigh* Roxas, don't respond to that. Axel, don't take my sad revelation-like status and turn it into an excuse to make conversations about sexual jokes. Take it over to *your* Facebook status.  
**Naminé Soto, Olette Hart** and **17 others** like this.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire **is taking **Kairi Soto**'s advice, and is taking his "conversation about sexual jokes" to his Facebook status.  
**Luxord Gamblette**, **Zexion Scheme** and **39 others** like this.

**Roxas Hikari:** AXEL. YOU. LIAR. Why the hell did you need to use ME as an example for your explanation about sexual things? I did NOT buy a condom at the age of seven.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** Oh, sorry, Rox. I guess I had my facts wrong. . . You USED your first condom at the age of seven!  
**Larxene Flash**, **Riku Takama**, and **173 others** like this.

**Roxas Hikari:** I hate you. I hate you so much. And everyone, he's lying.

**Sora Hikari:** I dunno, Roxas. Axel might have a point. I remember hearing strange *sexual* sounding noises coming from your room at night when we were younger.  
**Axel ohmygawdimonfire, Tidus !#$, **and **65 others** like this.

**Roxas Hikari:** LIJAJW;TOIEVHJ;LKRJALERJAF;LWEKJRBA;LEVJA;KJRV. *stuffs head in toilet bowl*

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** I'd like all of you bystanders to note that he never denied it.  
**Sora Hikari**, **Hope Estheim** and** 197 others** like this.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Naminé Soto** is going to **Roxas Hikari**'s house today with **Olette Hart** and **Hope Estheim** in a bit. Hate working on projects, but at least I'm with my friends. :)  
**Kairi Soto, Hope Estheim**, and **21 others** like this.

**Olette Hart:** We need to work our butts off! I can't believe that Mr. Turk is only giving us one weekend to work on this stupid project!

**Hope Estheim**: It's not that difficult though. And I'm sure that between the four of us, we'll get it done in no time.

**Naminé Soto:** Yay! :D Maybe we can hit the Moogle Mall afterwards to hang out with the rest of the gang. That would be fun!  
**Selphie Tilmitt, Tidus !#$, **and **36 others** like this.

* * *

"Roxas. You're a liar."

The scowl was still on my face as I tapped the Home button on my cell phone, and set it down on the table. "And why's that?"

"Your head is currently _not_ stuffed into a toilet bowl."

I felt the sudden urge to hit my brother for his stupidity, but I merely groaned. I forced myself to turn my attention to the now soggy cereal that sat in front of me, half-heartedly picking up my spoon to scoop some of it up.

"Oh, I have a lot of notifications."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, of course. I'm guessing that you didn't see Kairi's Facebook status yet, then?" Instantly, Sora's eyes widened, and his face paled slightly. "Yup, I'm right. Well, one of the notifications is probably about her status. She tagged you in it."

Sora frowned before tapping the home button on his phone and setting the device down. He picked up his spoon, and like me, also recommenced eating his cereal. Every once in a while though, I'd catch him staring at his phone anxiously. It was obvious that he wanted to see what the status was, but at the same time he was kind of nervous. And it made sense for him to be so.

Yeah, he let it known throughout the school that he had forgiven us, and that he understood now that it was all just a big misunderstanding. Yet, he wasn't treating Kairi the same way. He chose to interact with her as little as possible, which was a _huge_ change from the fact that they used to be inseparable.

Before I knew it, the two of us had finished breakfast, and our mom had finally scrambled out of bed.

"Morning, Sora. . . Roxas." She was still wearing her pink flannel pajamas and one of her old, gray, college hoodies that read "Shinra Academy". Her chocolate-brown hair that had formerly been pulled back into a neat ponytail was starting to come undone, and some of her wavy hair had managed to escape the confinements of the ponytail, instead deciding to stick up in uneven tufts. But somehow, our mom managed to look gentle and elegant through the midst of it all. She stumbled over to the couch before letting herself fall onto it lazily.

I sighed, before making my way over to her and poking her. "Uh, mom? Don't you have a get-together today with Zack and the rest of the gang?"

She groaned before burying her face deeper into the couch itself.

Sora joined me, his gaze curious. "Is she like . . . hungover or something?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, Sora. She's just tired. If she was hungover, we would know since we spent the whole night with her."

Sora smirked, "We spent the _whole_ _night_ with her, huh?"

My eyes widened in horror, while my mom automatically jerked up from her position on the couch, an expression of absolute disgust on her face. "_Sora_! I'm your _mother!_"

He looked confused for a moment, but he soon realized the situation he was in. "Oh God! Mom, I didn't mean it like that! I. . . I. . . AHHHHHH!" Sora had a strange sort of spazz attack where he stood, and my mother and I couldn't stop ourselves from eventually chuckling at his reaction.

Our mom stood up, stretching her arms over her head before walking over to the kitchen to make her own breakfast. As she began cutting slices of fruit, her eyes darted to Sora and I, quickly giving us a once-over. If she wasn't my mother, I would've automatically thought that she was checking us out, but I mean it's my _mom_ so I'm pretty sure she wasn't doing that.

Pretty sure. I mean, could anyone really resist _this_ piece of hot mess?

Oh God, I think that Axel's finally starting to rub off on me.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be working on projects today? That _was_ today, right? Shouldn't you get dressed?"

The two of us blinked, so I guess we were still kind of in a sleepy kind of daze. "Oh, that's right."

Before we could each make our way to our separate rooms to change out of our pajamas though, our mother stopped us. "Hey, what's that project about anyway?"

Sora looked at me, and there was something in his eyes (I swear, it's NOT twin telepathy!) that told me that he actually wasn't very sure what the History project was all about and that I would have to explain it to our mother. "It's sort of a modern-day history thing. Mister Turk grouped us into groups of four, and each group has to research a major event that happened for the year that they were assigned. We have to write a report, create a poster, and make a slideshow too. . ."

My mother frowned. "Well, when is it due?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but Sora beat me to the punch. "It's due on _Monday_!"

Her frown seemed to deepen. "Geez, that's so much for only one weekend. . . So both of you have to work your butts off to finish that project before you do anything else, mkay? If not, I'll get Tifa to beat you guys up. Or maybe I can get Zack and Cloud to teach you a lesson. Though I'm sure that your Uncle Cid would enjoy doing something too. . ."

Sora and I paled and instantly nodded. Tifa had a habit of telling us about the good old days when she used to be a martial arts champion. She says that even though she doesn't do it anymore, she still remembers how to knock someone out "in case of emergency." Zack and Cloud used to be members of this army, SOLDIER. Zack was a higher level than Cloud though, but I'm sure that they each still remembered a thing or two about combat. And Uncle Cid. . .

I couldn't stop the shiver from running down my spine.

My mother giggled at our expressions, before waving us off. "Well, go on you two. Get dressed."

* * *

The two of us nodded before darting off to our rooms to get changed.

"Mooooooooom. I'm off to Riku's house now to work with Tidus, Hayner, and well. . . Riku."

My mom smiled at my twin from the dining table, still taking her time with her fruit. Sora was wearing these gray cargo shorts, and a dark blue, short-sleeved henley. His hair was as messy as ever, and he had his beat-up skateboard tucked under his arm. "Don't forget your helmet, sweetie!"

My brother forced a smile, before nodding and heading out the door. I could already tell that he _wasn't_ planning on reentering the household to retrieve his helmet. Whatever, it's _his_ safety. Not mine.

From the table, both my mother and I could hear the slamming of the front door, meaning that Sora was now gone. My mother's eyes drifted over to meet mine, and I could see a mischievous twinkle in her eye. One that Sora probably inherited. I expected her to say something mildly embarrassing or something of the sort, but surprisingly enough, she didn't. "When are your friends coming over, Roxie?"

I wish I could scowl at the nickname, but my mother would be upset. And I mean, we all hate upset moms, right? "I'm not actually sure. . . I think that Naminé said that she would be over in a bit."

My mom smiled. "I can't wait to meet your new friend!"

I couldn't help but sigh, and give my mom one of _those_ looks. "Mom. . ."

She smirked at me, another trait that she had passed down to Sora. That _stupid_, _smug_ smirk that always made me feel nervous. "Aw, are you scared that I'll embarrass you in front of your new friends, Roxie?"

I couldn't help but feel my face turn a deep shade of pink. "I . . . You know. . . Um. . ."

My mom giggled before taking a large bite out of the watermelon that was stuck to her fork. Her eyes kept that dangerous twinkle though, and I couldn't help but fidget uncomfortably in my seat. My mom could just be so . . ._ awkward_.

And then, the doorbell rang. I immediately jumped out of my seat, but my mom did too at the exact same time. There was a large smile on her face as she spoke in a singsong voice, "I'll get it!"

My eyes widened, and I stuck my arm out in a lame attempt to stop her. "Mom! Wait! Stop!"

But my mother had already darted off to get the door.

I swear. Sometimes, she can be so much like _Sora_. But other times, she can be so serious that her seriousness scares me. But it's not that big of a deal to me. Either way I love my mama!

Except right now. Right now, I was worrying for the current health of Hope, Naminé, and Olette's eardrums. Or as my Biology textbook would say, their _tympanic membrane_.

Oh yeah, I'm cool.

"Why, hello! You must be Roxas's friends! Come on in!"

"Good morning, Miss Hikari!" I heard Naminé chirrup.

I couldn't help but grimace at Naminé's mistake. My mom wasn't Miss Hikari anymore; she had reverted to her maiden name after the divorce. I probably should've warned them about it, but I hadn't figured that _my mom_ would answer the door.

"Oh, honey. . . Just call me Miss Aerith. . ." I could hear the strain in my mom's voice, yet it was very minute, and I was almost sure that they didn't notice it.

"Are you sure, Miss Hikari? I'm not sure, it just seems rude to me. . ." This time it was Hope's voice, and I pretty much facepalmed myself. Where was Olette? She would've nudged them or something to make sure that they would get the point to just drop the subject.

I could easily imagine my mom trying to keep her temper, and I realized that I should probably make my entrance and save both my mom and my friends from the awkwardness that was sure to come.

"Oh, you guys! You're here!"

My mother's nervous, green eyes flickered towards me, and I could see the relief in them.

That's right, mom. I just saved your buttocks.

"Roxas!"

I smiled at both Hope and Naminé, the two of them wearing huge smiles on their faces, obviously not realizing that they almost made my mother have a nervous breakdown.

My mother looked between the three of us before giving us a smile that I'm pretty sure was forced. "I'm going to be leaving the house in a few minutes. You guys work hard, mkay?"

The two of them smiled, both of them looking like innocent little angels. "Of course, Miss Hikari!"

I swear I saw my mom's eyeball twitch.

* * *

Since I didn't want to delve into my emotional back-story about my parents' divorce which was the only way I could think of to explain why my mom didn't want to be called Miss Hikari, it took a while to convince them to just stick with calling her Miss Aerith. I mean, I didn't exactly have a reason, and I think that they thought I wasn't being very respectful or something. Oh, well.

Suddenly feeling extremely awkward, I took the opportunity to change the subject. "So. . . Where's Olette?"

Naminé frowned. "She called me and said that she would be a bit late. . . Something about her grandmother?"

My eyes darted between the two of them, realizing that neither of the two looked the least bit concerned about it. But I couldn't help but think of the worse possible scenario. Maybe her grandmother had been rushed to the hospital, but Olette just didn't tell the two? I mean, maybe she didn't want to tell them yet. . .

Realizing that I probably shouldn't ask about her grandmother in case Olette hadn't told them yet, I immediately changed the subject. Again. "Oh, okay. Uh . . . so what major event should we pick for our year? Wait, our year was five years ago, right? So we would've been twelve."

Hope smiled proudly while nodding, and in that moment it was obvious that he had started his research. "Actually, I looked it up before I left my house, and there's this website that I saw on Google that looked like it would be really useful. . ." He looked at me before hesitantly pointing to something behind me.

I spun my computer chair around so that I could see what he was pointing to. My laptop. "Oh, yeah! Hold on, let me log in and stuff."

It didn't take too long for me to get on, and it seemed like Hope instantly found the website he was talking about. Naminé and I were on either side of the boy, both of us leaning over him to get a view of the laptop screen.

"Alright, let's see here. . ." I voiced, beginning to read the page out loud, "Worst recession in twenty-three years? Sounds boring. Jecht the Jet, famous blitzball player inducted to the Blitzball Hall of Fame? Writing a whole report about your friend's dad is weird. Former leader finally resigns? What the hell? Boring politics. Beginning of the dictatorship in Radiant Garden. Wait, there was a dictatorship in Radiant Garden! ? You guys, we should totally do our project on _that_!"

I turned my head so that I could get a better look at the two of them, but before I could get a good look at their expressions, the door to my room was thrown open.

My eyes widened in surprise to see Olette standing there, looking exhausted and extremely stressed. "Sorry I'm late, you guys. . ." I couldn't help but frown out of worry and I opened my mouth to ask her where she had been, but she waved away my questions. "Miss Aerith let me in when she was leaving. And I know the easiest historical moment that we can cover for our project!" Her green eyes, though they were very tired looking, stared at all of us pleadingly, though I'm not entirely sure why.

"Uh, what's your idea, 'Lette? We found this _really_ cool one about this dictat—"

"I'm sure your idea's great, Olette. Let's do it!" I turned my head in surprise at Hope's interruption of my sentence. Naminé nodded with him, and Olette simply smiled gratefully. Realizing that I was outnumbered, I could do nothing but nod helplessly.

"Okay, well let's try to get this over as fast as possible. I've already written a rough draft on the report we can use, and I'll edit it and make it better later. Since Naminé's the most artistic of us all, she's going to work on the PowerPoint with you, Roxas, while Hope and I go out to get some supplies. Since Roxas usually has all the money, I'd usually force him to come with me, but I feel weird dragging him out of his own house. So, to make this easier, can you just give us five hundred munny, Roxas?"

I blinked in a mixture of shock and confusion. "F-F-Five hundred munny?"

Olette frowned, her expression immediately turning into a sad one. "Oh no, that's too much, isn't it? Uh, what if we—"

Hope waved away her worries, stepping forward to pat her on the shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, I've got it. I think I have enough munny in my wallet." He patted his jean pocket for effect, smiling in an attempt to wash her worries away.

Olette smiled half-heartedly. "Thanks, Hope. Let's hurry though? I think that going to the Moogle Mall after this is a great idea." She shot another grin at Naminé, as though letting her know that she approved of her idea.

Before I knew it, Olette was already making her way out of my house towards whichever art store met her fancy. Realizing that I had no idea what she had decided to do our project on, I chased after her, a confused Naminé trailing behind me. "Hey, wait! What're we doing the project on?"

By then, Olette and Hope were already outside, and Olette was just about to close the door. I guess she heard my question though, because she blushed and gave me an apologetic smile. "The Truth of the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town."

She quickly closed the door after saying those words, and I couldn't help but stare at the closed door in shock. "You've _got_ to be kidding me!"

* * *

"Um, Roxas? Are you sure that you're alright?" I couldn't help but stare at my new friend nervously.

Why, hello there! Naminé here. I've been standing here for the past ten minutes or so, staring at the young man in front of me. Roxas has been sulking in this corner of his room, and somehow like a cliché anime moment, it just so happened to be the single dark corner in a room bathed in light.

"Olette is just against me . . . I'm sure that that's what it is. She must be angry. . . Or else she wouldn't have put me through this. Ha. . . That _must_ be it. . ." I shot him another curious look that he probably couldn't see since his back was turned to me.

But still, I couldn't help but wince when he started laughing like a deranged man.

I sighed, what was going on with him?

I slowly tip-toed over to him, before tapping him lightly on his shoulder. He cringed at the touch, which honestly freaked me out a little. "Um. . . Roxas?

Ever so slowly, the sun-kissed blonde turned to face me, and I couldn't help but narrow my eyes slightly in worry since he was shaking. "Y-Yes, Naminé?"

I felt the frown tugging at the edge of my lips, but I forced it away. "Oh, smile, Roxie!"

He blinked, probably in confusion, at my words. "R-Roxie. . .?

I grinned cheekily at him before tilting my head to the side, "Well, yeah! It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

* * *

What the hell? _Roxie?_ Good Lord, there could only be one real explanation. "You've been hanging out too much with Axel. And Sora. And everyone else that calls me that dreaded nickname."

She giggled, "You say that like it's a bad thing. Axel's great!"

I groaned. "Oh no. Either he's brainwashing you, or he's paying you a huge sum of money. But knowing Axel, I'd have to go with the former. Axel's _broke_."

I could practically _feel_ her roll her eyes at me, but it was obvious that she was doing it only in a playful manner. "Whatever floats your boat, _Roxie_."

I jumped up out of my sulking corner, and turned to the flaxen-haired girl behind me in an exasperated fashion, my face turning red once more. "Oh, come _on_, Naminé! Whatever Axel's doing, don't go along with it! Remember how he tried to get Sora to hear me out? He got Olette and Hayner to _tie me, _cover my mouth with_ duct tape, _and _stuff me _into a _freaking _garbage bag!"

To my surprise, she burst out laughing. Her laughter was the kind that was so gentle, and yet right now, it seemed wild at the same time. And almost contagious. Before I knew it, I was laughing right along with her.

When we each finally stopped laughing, she turned to me, a childish smirk on her face. "Well, what do you say, _Roxie_? Can we work on our project now?"

Part of me wanted to guffaw at her since it was like _everyone_ could use that stupid . . ._ Sora Smirk_ against me, but I settled for simply grinning at her. "Yeah, I think we should_. . ._" I struggled to come up with a nickname for her that was equally as embarrassing as _Roxie_, but nothing really came to mind. My eyes darted around the room until I ended up blurting out the _stupidest_ thing ever. "_Nammykins!_"

She gave me this odd look. You know, the kind that you'd give to some creeper/rapist/pedophile. But soon enough, the expression was wiped off her face as soon as she started giggling. And gradually, that giggling turned into mad laughter.

My face was bright red from saying that absolutely _lame_ nickname, but I wasn't able to stifle my immature chuckle, and soon enough, I was laughing with her once more. Gosh, what was wrong with me today? It was like. . . I couldn't stop laughing.

When we finally stopped, I was reminded of the task at hand. But since I was still in a goofy sort of mood, I cleared my throat dramatically before asking (in a British accent of course), "Well. Shall we get started, Nammykins?"

She giggled again before responding (also with a British accent), "It'd be my pleasure, Roxie."

We both shared a glance at each other, before sounding out into laughter once more.

* * *

It took a while, but eventually we started work on our PowerPoint. The grimace was back on my face, and I couldn't stop myself from throwing my hands in the air exasperatedly. "Ugh, I hate this! Why did we have to do_ this_ for our project? I'm sure we could've found something else!" I spun my computer chair to look at Naminé who was lying down on my bed, playing with one of my old stuffed bunnies. She was wearing a simple, white sundress that had a gray belt around the middle of it, with a matching grey beret in her hair. She had left her slip-on white Vans at the door way, and her white socks were dirt-free.

Slowly she turned to face me, "It's not _that_ bad, Roxas. I don't understand why you're so against the idea anyway. . ."

I couldn't help but frown. "It just. . . UGH!"

She rolled her eyes, "Roxie, 'ugh' isn't very descriptive."

I turned my head to glare at her, but I couldn't hold the glare for long because of the innocent expression she had on her face. "It's not that interesting of a story. Trust me. It's really boring."

She simply smiled, before cocking her head gently to the side. "Not that I don't trust you or anything, Roxie, but I still want to hear the story."

I sighed, "You've really never heard of the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town?"

She simply shook her head, and subconsciously clutched the stuffed bunny closer to her. I couldn't help but wonder _why_ I had my old stuffed animal still in my room anyway.

"They were kind of a ploy to get more people to visit the place. You see, Twilight Town used to be really big, but at one point, everyone left to explore the new worlds since the Gummi Ship was invented. There was barely anyone left in the city. Businesses were starting to shut down and all that stuff, it wasn't very good for our economy." I couldn't stop myself from looking off into the distance dramatically. "A bunch of the families that remained made up these fictitious wonders about the town, and called them the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town. And it did its trick. People from all over the place scurried to Twilight Town to get a peek of the Seven Wonders. That is, until five years ago. . ."

Naminé's eyes were wide with curiosity, and she was silently urging me to continue on.

"One day, five years ago, this detective guy came to town. He refused to believe that the wonders were real, and eventually, he found out the truth. The guy was crazy . . . he—" I scrambled to find the words to say what I wanted to, but they seemed to not come.

"Roxas. . .?"

I cleared my throat, forcing myself to continue. "He was angry at the people for lying about it. I'm not really sure why, no one else really cared too much about it. It was just for entertainment after all. But he wasn't . . . right in the head. . ."

Naminé's gaze never lost its intensity, and she seemed to lean in as I continued to talk. "Wha. . . What did he do?" I held back the chuckle as I noticed that she seemed to be trembling.

I merely shrugged, a light smile now dancing on my features. "He sued all of the families who participated in the so-called 'hoax.'"

Naminé blinked, "That's it?"

I merely closed my eyes and nodded knowingly, silently praising myself for a dramatic storytelling.

While my eyes were closed, I didn't notice Naminé stand up and stomp over towards me. That is, until she bonked me on the head with the stuffed toy. Hard. "Roxas! You got me all worked up for nothing!"

I grinned at her, before forming my expression into an innocent, almost oblivious one. "Why, I didn't realize that I had done anything to make you get so worked up. . . I was merely telling you a little about our town's history. . ."

She frowned, and my stomach did a mini somersault at the cuteness of her immature pout.

Whoa, did I actually just _think that out loud_! ?

. . . Ignore that last sentence.

"Roxas, you're being mean!"

I gaped at her. "Me? _Mean?_ No way!"

Her lips seemed to quiver as she turned her head away from me. "Yeah, you. You meanie."

Wait a second . . . was she _crying_? ! I stood up out of my computer chair, and slowly advanced towards her. Her back was facing me now, and it honestly seemed like she was about to burst into tears. Especially since her lip actually quivered. I reached my hand out to lightly tap her shoulder, but before I could touch her, she whirled around and threw one of the pillows from my bed at my face, laughing maniacally as she did so.

I guffawed at her. Did she _seriously_ just do that! ? "And you call _me_ the mean one!" I couldn't help but gingerly rub my cheek.

"Don't be silly, Roxie. You _are_ the mean one. If I wanted to be mean, I wouldn't have thrown a pillow at you!" She giggled again, before playfully sticking my tongue out at me.

"Well. . . that pillow was hard!"

Out of nowhere, she seemed to get this mischievous twinkle in my eye. "Gee, Roxas. Those are some weird pillows then. I didn't know that pillows could get erections. . ." She had executed the line with perfect faux innocence, and I couldn't help but stare at her in shock. Did she _really_ say that, or was I just imagining things?

Her immediate laughter after the line had been said proved it to me: Naminé had actually said something . . . somewhat perverted.

When I figured that out, I couldn't help but laugh too.

Since we were both laughing so hard, we eventually collapsed onto my bed, the two of us clutching out stomachs. I sighed contentedly, smiling as I did so, while Naminé sat up in the bed, gazing out of the window that was adjacent to it, her hand resting lightly on the glass. "It's a nice view. . ."

I sat up next to her so I could also admire the view of my mother's wonderful garden. "Yeah, my mom works on it whenever she has the free time. She really does have a green thumb."

Slowly, she turned her gaze away from the window to stare at me, an expression of absolute wonder and amazement on her features, and at the same time, a hint of shyness. "You wouldn't mind if. . . If I came here one day to draw it . . .?"

At first, the question took me by surprise since I had completely forgotten about Naminé and her artistic capabilities. But it wasn't long before I smiled. "It's no problem. Come on in whenever you like!"

She beamed at me, before turning back to the glass window. It was silent for a little bit, before I decided to speak up. "You know. . . You never did show me any of your art. . ."

I saw her eyes widen in the reflection of the glass, before she turned to look at me, her expression softening. "Maybe I can bring you a few sketches when I come to draw the flowers. . ." I didn't realize that I had been holding her hand until she gave it a gentle squeeze and smiled at me timidly.

I blushed lightly before squeezing back, "I would like that. A lot."

* * *

**A Wishful Thought**: (A Note from the Author) I actually squealed when I wrote that last line. I was really proud of my cheesiness. XP It wasn't as fluffy as I liked it to be, but I've never really written fluff before, so I hope none of you minded all too much. ^^; I decided to stop the chapter there (instead of continuing it as I had planned) because I was proud of that last line. I always like the last lines of each of my chapters to be at least semi-dramatic, and that's what I ended it with. Don't worry, there's only two parts to this "arc."

ANYWAY, I'm trying to make my Author's Notes shorter. I don't know, I heard that some people don't exactly love the long lengths of Author's Notes. And SO, my Author Ramblings **will be featured on my Wordpress, instead of here for those who want to read it.** It will feature **pictures of some of the outfits worn by the characters**, and **more detailed insight into the things I wrote**. :) So check it out!

**Wishfulhopes(dot)wordpress(dot)com**

(just remove the dots!

**Next Time**: The quartet _finally_ finishes working on their ridiculous History Project, and drag everyone to the Moogle Mall. Neon orange fliers, a Desperate Demyx, and (hopefully!) more Namixas fluff. :D

So **thank you **so much for reading, and please _**REVIEW**_.


	9. Her Best Day Part II

**A Wishful Thought** (A Note From The Author): Ahhhhh, I'm a lazyass who just started writing this now when I could've started it about a week agooooo. I'm bad. XP Here is my attempt at making a more entertaining chapter. Of course, I'm never entirely sure if I'm coming off as random or just plain stupid (to me, it's a very thin line in between the two ;) so please just bare with me. ^^;;

Thank you to:

**Akemithebazookagirl****, ****CupcakeLerman****, ****KeybladeMaster97****, ****makiru****, ****FutureX13****, ****Sato Tadashi****, ****, ****Ashcroitt**, and **Dreamer-Tsuki** for reviewing! :'D

**Disclaimer:** As you all probably guessed, I _**still**_ don't own Kingdom Hearts. Any of it. . . If I did, I would've gladly given the Nobodies their hearts back. ;D I also don't own Pokémon, or any of the stores that pop up in this chapter.

*crosses fingers* Okay, let's hope this chapter is good! XD

**Note**: You might want to remember from the last chapter that Tidus, Riku, Hayner, and Sora were doing their project together. It's not mentioned directly. XP

**Warning**: I'm not sure how I did it, but this chapter ended up freakishly huge. O_O Beware random moments that probably aren't too important to the story, and several run-on sentences. I'm sure they're in their somewhere. . . O_O;;

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _Her Best Day (Part Two)_

"Scissors?" Naminé (who was working on my living room floor) stuck out her right hand upwards in a somewhat impatient manner, not bothering to stop whatever she was working on to get it herself.

Hope (who was kneeling at the coffee table centered in the middle of the room), quickly grabbed the pair of scissors and placed it into Naminé's awaiting hand. "Here you go." Somehow, he managed to continue working on whatever _he_ was working on while obtaining the object.

"Pencil?"

"Here it is."

"Sharpie?"

"Right here."

"Eraser?"

For a second, their perfect synchronization was broken, and Hope actually took his eyes off his work to scan the table for the wanted item. He looked kind of confused for a few seconds, but the confusion was quickly gone. "It's right next to you, Nam."

She blinked, turning her attention away from her current task. Once she spotted the eraser that really _was_ next to her, her face flushed lightly. "Oh. Sorry, Hope, I didn't see it there."

He simply smiled at her. "It's no problem."

And just like that, they continued working.

How could they work like that for a whole _hour and a half_? It was creepy that they could be so in sync with each other!

You see, once Olette and Hope arrived, it was suddenly all business. You can thank Olette for that, since she insisted that we weren't allowed to do anything that didn't pertain to our crazyass project and breathing. Immediately, Hope and Naminé were forced to begin working on the poster, Olette resumed revising and rewriting the essay, and I was left to finish up our PowerPoint.

Lucky for me, Naminé and I somehow managed to get a good amount of it done while Olette and Hope were out, so it only took me around an hour to finish up. I offered to help the rest of them, but Olette claimed that she didn't need my help, and she stated that two people were enough to work on the poster, and if I tried to help them out, I'd probably only get in the way.

And Hayner insists that she's the kindest person he knows. The kid is _blind_.

"Roxas?"

I was snapped out of my reverie as Olette called me from the leather recliner a few feet away. "Yeah, Olette?"

She fidgeted uncomfortably on the chair, before setting her laptop down on the floor beside her. "I actually don't think I can do this anymore."

I blinked, confused at what she meant. "Huh?"

She sighed dramatically, before stumbling towards me, and collapsing next to me on the sofa, her head resting in my lap. "This. . . This stupid project!" She threw her hands up in the air in an exasperated motion, and I had to quickly shift my weight to avoid being hit by her hands. "This is ridiculous! I can't write a report about something like _this_!"

I rolled my eyes before flicking her on the forehead. "Well, Ollie, that's _your_ fault. You're the one who wanted to do our project on something stupid like this."

She groaned, "Well, it _did _require the least amount of research! So it _was_ technically easier!"

"Ooookay, so what's the problem?"

"I can't make this report sound interesting! It sounds like I'm just sputtering out random facts! It doesn't have any. . ." She trailed off as she scrambled to think of the proper word. "Heart! It doesn't have any heart! It doesn't have any emotions at all!"

I couldn't help but smirk as a pun came to mind, "Well, I'm sure that as long as you write your name in huge letters it'll have plenty of heart. Wouldn't you agree, Miss Olette _Hart_?"

She stared at me for what felt like forever, her eyebrows drawn together in a way that made her look worried. "Oh. . . My. . . God. . ."

I frowned and stared at her curiously. First she doesn't laugh at my pun (it couldn't have been _that_ lame, right?), and now she's looking at me like I'm some kind of monster? "Wha—?"

Olette immediately jumped off of the couch and pointed an accusing finger at me, her face filled with absolute dread. "YOU HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN DOING _ANYTHING_ FOR THE PAST _THIRTY_ _MINUTES_, AND YOU'VE GONE ABSOLUTELY _CRAZY_! YOU'VE LOST ALL SENSE OF SANENESS! THE REAL ROXAS WOULDN'T HAVE SAID SOMETHING SO _AWFULLY CHEESY_!"

I stared at her incredulously before forcing myself to move towards her to assure her that yes, I _was_ perfectly sane. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to believe me. "No, no, no! That's where I put my foot down! Roxas, your health is much more important than some stupid old project!"

And this was coming from the same girl that refused to let me use the bathroom an hour ago since I hadn't finished my part of the project yet?

I took a step closer towards her, reaching out my hand to pat her shoulder or something to assure that I was currently in tip-top shape. "Olette, seriously. I'm absolutely fi—"

She yelped before swatting my hand away. "Oh goodness, this is worse than I thought!" My frown deepened. What was she going on about now? "That's it! I'm calling Axel! We're going to take a break and go to the mall!"

My eyes immediately widened in fear. I didn't mind taking a break to go to the mall (in fact, I think that it would be the best thing to do as of now), but whenever _Axel_ got involved into things. . .

I couldn't stop myself from shuddering.

Unfortunately for me, Olette had already whipped out her cell phone and had commenced dialing Axel's number.

I ran towards her, my arm stretching out as far as possible in an attempt to grab the cell phone from her hand. Before I could reach her though, she shrieked and sprinted away. "_OLETTE_!"

The green-eyed scholar pivoted quickly on her foot, and darted down the hallway towards the bedrooms. "_OLETTE!_"

Before I knew it, she had already dashed into my room, slammed the door shut, and then locked it closed. I couldn't help but whine childishly as I banged on the closed door, "_OLEEEETTTTTEEEEEE!_"

I could practically _feel_ her smirk from the other side of the door as she talked to the red-headed pyromaniac on the other line. "Axel? Yeah, what do you say we all hit the Moogle Mall today? . . . I dunno, how about. . . twenty minutes?" There was a long pause, and I desperately kept my ear onto the door in strange anticipation. "Definitely. Call up the others; I need to get a delusional Roxas out of the house ASAP. . . . . Yes, that's right. I'm at Roxas's place. . . Wh—"

Before she could finish whatever it was she was saying, the front door of the house opened up, and a familiar voice shouted, "ROXIEEEE, I'M HOMEEEE!"

My eyes widened, and I ran towards the front of my house. I would like to say that I was surprised to see the red-headed college kid in front of me, but honestly? It's Axel. You learn to expect these kinds of things from him.

He was wearing a simple, black v-neck, and ripped up skinny jeans. His hair seemed like it was defying gravity more than usual today, and his cell phone was still positioned at his ear. I opened my mouth to ask how he had managed to get inside my house without anyone even opening the door for him, but I managed to answer my own question almost instantaneously.

Axel was twirling a full set of keys around his finger.

"Axel, how the hell did you g—"

"How did I get your house keys?" The playful smirk on his face only widened as he stuffed the keys into his pocket along with his phone. "Roxas, do you _really_ want to know that?"

Did I? Did I _really_ want to know how he managed to snag a copy of the key to my house? I mean, it _was_ Axel. "On second thought. . ."

Unfortunately for me, Axel had already begun waving away my words. "Remember that one day a couple years back when you were freaking out because it was three in the morning and your mom _still_ wasn't home?" There was a horrible glint in his eye, and a stupid smirk on his face.

I could already feel my eye twitching.

This was _not_ going to turn out into a good story.

* * *

". . . And _that's_ how I met the President of Mexico, fought off a deranged, rabid monkey, rescued Las Vegas from sure bankruptcy, and managed to save the world from Twilight-crazed fans. Oh. _And_ got your house key."

I wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that. Or to the entire story in general. ". . . I bet you're lying."

We were walking towards the Moogle Mall where we were planning to meet up with everyone else. Everyone seemed to want to take a break from whatever it was they were doing, since everyone said that they would meet us there. We were supposed to meet them at the Moogle Mall entrance, and then we'd probably head off to the food court. I mean, it was almost one o'clock, and none of us (Naminé, Hope, Olette, Axel and I) had eaten yet. And even if the others ate, knowing that they're my friends, they'd be glad to eat some more as long as someone else was paying.

And that someone usually ends up being me.

Axel turned to look at me, an expression of shock plastered on his face making Olette and Naminé giggle. "A _liar_! ? You're calling me a _liar_! ?"

I shot him a smug grin. "Yeah, _got it memorized_?"

The college student beside me actually _growled_ at the usage of his catchphrase. "You can't use that! That's _my_ line!"

I playfully rolled my eyes at his childish whine. "They're _words_. And no matter how high and mighty you think you are, _no one_ can own words. . . _Got it memorized_?"

Axel let out an angry sort of shout, throwing his arms up in the air in a frustrated manner.

Olette raised a finger to point out a suggestion, "Actually, Roxas, don't you remember the time when none of us could say the word 'photograph' for an entire day?"

I frowned. I had completely forgotten about that day. It was _weird_.

Axel smirked, quickly recovering from his outburst, "Well, _I_ remember it, Roxie. And I guess that means people _can_ control words. So I hereby decree that I am the only one who can use the catchphrase, 'Got it memorized?'!"

Olette giggled, "Axel, I'm pretty sure it was just because of that scary movie we saw. You know, the one where if you said a certain word, then the monster thing would kill you?" She paused to frown. "I actually don't remember the movie that much, but that's the explanation my brain is giving me. . . And if that _is_ true, why in the world did we think that the word 'photograph' would kill us?"

I shrugged. "Who knows? We were young back then. And when you're young, you tend to be foolish. And foolish people tend to believe and do just about anything."

Olette rolled her eyes, "Roxas, this happened _last year_. We were _sixteen_."

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence, but since we were all walking with Axel, it ended up being very short lived. "That's it. Roxas, you're fired."

I turned to look at Axel in shock, but the pyromaniac seemed to be extremely serious about whatever it is he was talking about. "What are you talking about! ? You can't _fire_ me! I don't even _work_ for you!"

Axel shook his head sadly, almost as if he was ashamed to be seen next to me. And honestly? It should've been the other way around. "Now, now, Roxie. No need to get so testy."

I furrowed my brows at him. No one was really making any sense today. First Olette, now Axel. "I'm not getting _testy_. You're just not making any _sense._"

Axel sighed heavily, "Roxie, Roxie, Roxie. I don't want my protégé to be someone so forgetful and simple minded. If you're going to be the next Axel, then you need to step up your game."

My mouth was agape as I stared at him. "Axel, I don't even _want_ to be your protégé! When was that even decided! ?"

He shook his head once more, "See? You _are_ that forgetful. Don't you remember Selphie's party?"

I frowned, "Axel, _no one_ really remembers Selphie's party. We were pretty much all drunk."

Axel grinned and stepped in front of me, halting my advance. He towered over me, the menacing look still etched on his face. "Au contraire, mon ami. Axel remembers _everything_."

No. Axel _doesn't _remember everything. In fact, I think he's one of the most forgetful people I know. And actually, I think he's making this whole thing up _just_ so he can have something to say. I mean, we all know Axel. He _hates_ silence.

"So," Axel finally stepped away from me so he could address the whole group, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "That means I need a new apprentice! Hope! I choose youuuu!"

Hope stared at him in shock, obviously not sure what to say. "Oh! Um, actually, Axel, I—"

Axel grinned before running towards Hope and flinging his arm around him. "There's no need to state your unending gratitude, dear Hopie!" I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes. What's up with people and nicknames that end in 'ie'? "Come now, we have to start your training!"

Hope's eyes widened as Axel dragged him ahead of us, yelling something about how to drink underage without letting your parents know.

Naminé frowned, as she watched Hope look at us desperately, frantically trying to free himself from Axel's grasp. Of course, Axel didn't seem to notice this at all, and casually continued shouting about things that Hope probably should've been taking notes on. Knowing Axel, he'd probably give Hope a Pop Quiz just to keep things interesting. "Roxas, shouldn't we help him?"

I turned to look at the blonde beside me, actual worry on her features.

"Naw, Hope will be okay. He's Axel's apprentice now. And knowing Axel. . ." I trailed off as I realized that Hope probably _was_ in some sort of danger. Because after all, it _is_ Axel. Her worry seemed to increase as she realized the same thing. Of course, her worry couldn't possibly be as extreme as mine since she just hasn't known Axel for as long as I have. "Okay, so maybe. . ."

"Don't worry too much," Olette insisted. "If Axel tries to pull off anything illegal, they're right in front of us, so I'm sure it'll be easy to stop—"

Olette's reassurance seemed to automatically disappear as we all looked up to find that Hope and Axel were gone.

The green-eyed girl blinked, obviously not noticing their disappearance either.

"So would you say that it's best to chase after them now?"

"Yeah, probably."

* * *

Before we knew it, we had arrived at the mall. And thank goodness too, because I was starting to get sweaty. And we all know how gross that is.

Axel was off to the side making a phone call, and Hope had this sort of traumatized expression on his features. Tidus seemed to be trying to snap the poor guy out of it, or at least trying to get Hope to tell him what was wrong, but it seemed like it just wasn't working out. Hayner (who looked as though he was trying to convince Sora of something) and Sora (who just seemed downright upset) seemed to be discussing something very intently, and Riku was nowhere to be found. Eventually, Sora spotted us, and the previously serious expression on his face was immediately wiped off, replaced by a look of pure joy.

"Roxas! Naminé! Olette!" The brunet boy ran towards us, before enveloping us in a huge hug. "Oh, Roxas! It feels like I haven't seen you in forever! I missed you!"

I rolled my eyes at his overdramatic behavior. "Sora, we live together. And besides, you saw me like. . . four hours ago or something."

Sora rolled his eyes playfully at me, letting go of the three of us. "Whatever. Is it so wrong for me to miss my dear brother? Besides, it took you guys _forever_ to get here. Seriously, what was the big holdup?"

Hayner, who had taken his time to approach us, was immediately greeted by Olette with a hug. This of course, made my fellow blonde blush, not that Olette noticed. As soon as she pulled away from him, a huge beam on her face, she turned towards Sora, "Sora. You, Hayner, Tidus, and Riku are the only ones here. And out of our entire friend group, Riku's the only one with a _car_."

Sora's mouth shaped into a round "o". "Haha, that makes sense now!"

I mentally facepalmed myself. No shit, Sherlock.

"Speaking of Riku, where is he?"

Sora waved away Naminé's concern. "Don't worry about him. He just left to find parking is all."

Naminé nodded, and immediately her attention was on Tidus who was dragging (literally, _dragging_) Hope along behind him.

"Uh, you guys? Is Hope okay? Ever since he got here with Axel, he's had this weird look on him. . ." As Tidus had said, Hope was still looking spaced out and deep in thought.

"Holy crap. . . What did Axel _do_ to him?" Olette asked, curiosity etched on her features. "Honestly. . . Hope looks so. . . troubled. . ."

Hayner frowned, "Axel's involved with Hope's trauma? Oh God, this can't be good. . ."

Naminé seemed deeply worried about her childhood friend. Hesitantly, she walked over to Hope and squatted down so she was at eye-level with him. She tapped his shoulder lightly, only making Hope cringe at the touch. "Um. . . Hope? Are you alrigh—"

"I DIDN'T START THE FIRE," Hope screamed before jumping up from his sitting position on the ground, and looking around cautiously.

Tidus sighed, "Don't tell me that Axel's done something illegal _again_."

Axel (who probably has supersonic hearing) came up from behind Tidus, placing his hands on his shoulders, and talking right into his ear. "I did."

I couldn't stop myself from collectively sighing with the rest of the group. "Axel, if you end up in jail again, I am _not_ going to contribute to your bail fund."

* * *

It took a while (and I mean a _long_ while) until everyone showed up at the designated meeting place. It wasn't until everyone showed up that I realized just how many people Olette and Axel managed to invite.

Axel's girlfriend, Larxene, and his best friend, Demyx had shown up for one.

Don't tell her I actually said this, but Larxene scares the _shit _out of me. I'm not sure what it is. The bitter harshness of her voice, the evil glint in her eye, or maybe even the weird antennas she has on her head. I mean, they seriously look like alien antennas, but they're made out of her _hair_. Okay, you have to admit that that's at least _somewhat_ creepy, right? But I mean, her and Axel are pretty much perfect for each other. They're both diabolical college students that I'm pretty sure have evil schemes to take over the world.

Demyx on the other hand. . . Where do I start with him? He's a little slow. Both physically and mentally. In fact, I think that Axel just enjoys hanging out with him because poor Demyx is so easy to boss around. I actually feel pity for the guy, but I actually think that Axel has genuinely started to enjoy the company of the confused blonde. Axel always tells me about how Demyx is an amazing musician that can play just about everything. Oh, and they're roommates in their college dorm, so it's pretty normal for Axel to know that. I guess.

After they arrived, Kairi, Selphie, Xion, and Pence did.

Kairi really _does_ look unhealthy, and I couldn't help but be surprised that she had actually decided to come to this gathering. As I mentioned before, there were large, dark bags under her eyes that were made more evident by the pale pallor of her skin. Her violet eyes that were usually sparkling with excitement seemed cold and lifeless. Though she usually took care into what she decided to wear in public, it didn't seem that way now. She was wearing light gray sweatpants that rolled up to the middle of her shin, and a plain pink t-shirt. Wait a second, I change my mind! Okay sure, she seemed to be wearing a simple (almost lazy-day) kind of outfit, true. BUT, apparently they were like. . . _designer_ sweatpants and a _designer_ plain pink t-shirt since her pants said, "A&F NY 1892" on the side and since there was a small moose at the bottom of her t-shirt. I guess that even when she's depressed she dresses like a prep.

Unlike Kairi, Selphie was brimming with absolute happiness. Well, maybe not _absolute_ happiness, since her best friend seemed so upset, but a _good amount_ of happiness. There we go. She wore one of her custom-made designer outfits (I did mention that her mom was stinking rich, right?) and was sporting a large tote bag on her right shoulder.

Xion was never really the type of girl to be into designer outfits, or anything of that matter, which was pretty refreshing. She didn't really bring much with her, just her oversized headphones that were currently wrapped around her neck rather than her head. She seemed to be in a good mood today, and I could tell that she was enjoying the break from her ridiculous History project.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing about Pence. Pence seemed downright worried and jittery. But I guess it can't be helped. If Olette is always worried about her studies, then multiply that worry times one-hundred-fifty, and you get Pence. Then again, Pence's worry comes from the fact that his parents are extremely strict about his grades. Last year, he got a B on his Report Card, and he was forced into isolation for an entire _month_. So personally, I think his parents are _crazy_. He got a B in a freaking _AP class_! So that's still _really _good. The poor guy.

And of course, Sora, Riku, Hayner, Tidus, Axel, Hope, Naminé, Olette, and I were already here.

So how many of us are here? Fifteen. And that's a pretty large group of delinquents mind you.

Oh, did I say delinquents? Sorry, I didn't mean to say that. The only delinquent out of all of us is Axel.

"So. . . Where to?"

"I'm kind of hungry," Tidus noted aloud, searching the crowd until his eager eyes met mine.

I sighed dramatically, realizing that a majority of my friends were staring at me with the same, hungry, and eager eyes. "Nope. I'm _not_ paying this time."

"What! ? But Roxas! You pay _every_ time!" Sora whined with that childish whine of his.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, but not this time. Come on, I'm sure that you all brought money!"

An awkward silence ensued, and then I remembered something: No one except me _ever_ brings money because they're all irresponsible idiots that simply assume that I'll pay for everything that they ever need in life.

"I-I'll pay! I think I have some munny with me," Naminé said, breaking the silence. She searched in her small purse that I hadn't even realized that she was holding, looking for a wallet.

My eyes widened, and my body surged with guilt. I didn't want _Naminé_ to have to pay! I mean, she _barely_ eats anything (I mean, at Panera Bread she barely ordered anything!) and she probably didn't realize that our entire friend group had huge stomachs, not just Kairi, Sora, and I. So even though her order would probably only be thirty munny, everyone else's orders would at least be one-hundred-eighty munny each. That's like. . . twenty-thousand-five-hundred-twenty munny total! Not even counting _her_ order!

It seemed like the rest of the gang realized the same thing that I did.

"Oh, c'mon, Rox. Don't make Naminé pay!"

"Roxie! You can't make Nami pay!"

"I think she only offered because she doesn't understand our eating habits!"

"Are you seriously _that_ stingy about your money! ?"

"Roxas is a meanie. M-E-A-N-I-E, got it memorized?"

"WAIT, can you spell that out again? I didn't catch it."

My life sucks.

I reached over to grab Naminé's arm, forcing her to stop searching her bag for her wallet, and to look up at me instead. "Uh, don't worry about it. I'm paying."

A majority of the group broke out into cheers over the fact that they had ended up getting their way after all, but Naminé refused to accept that. "No, that's not fair. If you say that you pay every time, then it's only fair that somebody else pays for a change."

She seemed to strongly believe this fact, showing that she wouldn't abandon it easily. Most of the others had already begun discussing where and what they wanted to eat, and had already managed to migrate a little to the left, away from Naminé and I. If they weren't too open to discussion, then they were still quiet enough to give Naminé and I space to talk. I half expected Hope to come into the conversation, but it seemed that Axel was now introducing his new apprentice to the group, even though we all already knew who Hope was since we had meant him first. But Axel didn't seem to care too much about that.

"N-No! I was just a little annoyed! I don't mind paying at all, so don't worry about it."

She gave me a skeptic look, and it was obvious that she still wanted to pay for at least part of it. She remained quiet however, as though deep in thought. Eventually, her eyes wandered to her arm that I didn't even realize I was still clutching. My eyes widened, and I quickly released her arm, mumbling an apology. My face had flared up in embarrassment from the contact, though I'm not entirely sure why.

"Okay, fine! We'll both pay for it. We'll split the check in half," she stated with a wide smile.

I attempted to shake the redness from my face away by pretending to flip my hair. I already knew that my hair didn't really flip or anything unless it was wet. It just naturally refused the pull of gravity. "Uh. . . I. . . Wait, no!"

But it was too late since Naminé had already walked over to the group to ask what they wanted to eat, explaining that the two of us would be splitting the check. From what I could see, it seemed that no one in particular refused the idea of splitting the check at all, and I could already hear the loud suggestions of restaurant names. I reminded myself that I was standing alone like a loser, so I slowly wandered back into the discussion.

"How about Olive Garden! I'm totally in the mood for Italian!" Sora exclaimed happily.

But Axel shook his head, "Nope, I'm more in the mood for pizza."

Olette gave Axel a curious look, "Axel. . . Pizza is technically Italian food. You can get some at Olive Garden."

"So? I think that Axel meant that he was in the mood for the unhealthy _American_ kind of pizza, because I am too," Larxene stated dryly, smirking in Axel's direction. Axel smirked right back, and from the way they were looking at each other, it seemed like they were undressing each other with their eyeballs. Did they seriously have to do that in _public_?

"Okay, so what about a burger joint?"

"Tidus, don't be an idiot. They said that they want _pizza_, not _burgers_," Selphie pointed out with slight annoyance.

Tidus huffed and crossed his arms immaturely. "Well, I think that they should just deal with burgers. They're unhealthy and American, too."

And so, the argument about where we should eat began.

* * *

I don't even know _why_ I'm friends with these people. I mean, _honestly_! They fought about where we should eat for _over an hour_. It was already almost three o'clock!

"Okay, so we've decided for sure? We're definitely going to the Deep Jungle?" I couldn't help but make my voice sound skeptical. I mean, after all, they _had_ been arguing for so long.

It remained silent for a few seconds until everyone started talking at once.

"You know what? I'm not that hungry anymore."

"Me either!"

"Yeah, I think I kind of want to go shopping now."

"Shopping? Oooh! That sounds like fun!"

"I actually don't want a full-blown meal, but I'm still kind of hungry. Can't we all just get some Sea Salt Ice Cream or something at Uncle Scrooge's?"

"Oh, that's a good idea, Hayner!"

"So, I'm not the only one who doesn't want to go anymore?"

"You've got that right!"

"Really? Haha, I thought that if I actually admitted out loud, you'd all kill me!"

I could already feel myself twitching. "Well, Sora. _They_ might not kill you, but _I_ might!"

The eyes of my twin widened considerably, "W-W-Wait, what! ?"

I turned my attention away from Sora so that I could stare at the entire group. "Are you guys _seriously_ not hungry anymore?"

It was silent once more, but everyone in the friend group eventually nodded except Naminé and I. At that moment, I seriously wanted to castrate them all. Well, all of the guys at least. I mean, you can't remove a girl's testicles since they don't. . .

Yeah. You know what I mean.

"Okay, fine. So what do you guys want to do now?" I couldn't stop myself from using such a bitter tone.

"How about we just get some Ice Cream at Uncle Scrooge's? I mean, it seems like Roxas really wants us to eat. . ."

No, Olette. I don't really care whether you guys eat or not, but I'm starving, and we just wasted over an hour of our day fighting over where we were going to eat. "Yeah. I like Olette's idea."

Sora opened his mouth to object, but I immediately shot him a hateful glare. "Yeah! Me too!" He quickly shouted.

That's right, brother dearest. Feel the hatred.

* * *

No one really minded walking the extremely long distance to the other side of the Moogle Mall to get to Uncle Scrooge's Ice Cream Parlor. Not even me. I mean, when it comes to ice cream, I'm like a little kid. I swear, ice cream is like my kryptonite. No, actually, it's like _everyone's _kryptonite. You can't resist ice cream. You just _can't_.

Well, unless you're lactose intolerant. And if you are, then I am _extremely_ sorry for you.

But alas, my friends have the attention span of a dog. So of course, no one but me was in a rush to get to the Ice Cream Parlor. Everyone else kept insisting on stopping by every single store that had even the _slightest_ interesting display. And surprisingly, I didn't exactly mind this. In fact, I enjoyed stopping by some of the stores. Some of them had some _really_ cool stuff.

Unfortunately, since there was so much cool stuff, everyone wanted to buy something. But remember? _No one other than me brought munny_. Well, except Naminé. But still. I guess I got all caught up in it since I ended up buying something for _everybody_. I mean, everyone insisted that they would pay me back, but knowing them?

I'd never be getting my munny back. Ever.

Axel and Larxene insisted on stopping by Spencer's. It's sort of this store that's basically full of humor stuff. They have all kinds of gag gifts and stuff. But it's also an adult store. You know, meaning that they sell _adult_ kind of stuff in there. I was scared that they'd make me buy something perverted and gross, but surprisingly, they refrained from that.

Out of all the disgusting things in the store (they sold _pole dancing _kits), I ended up just buying them matching bracelets of marijuana that said "LEGALIZE IT" across. They were only sixty munny each, so like I said, not bad.

But of course, Axel insisted that we get Hope something from the store too since Hope was his new apprentice. So for a second there, I actually thought that Axel was being kind and thoughtful, so I gave him the one hundred munny to buy something for Hope too.

But I of course, was wrong. Oh, so very _wrong_.

The pyromaniac bought Hope a pink wristband that said, "BITCH" on it, and borrowed a Sharpie from the worker to change it up so that it would say, "AXEL'S BITCH" on it.

I felt absolutely terrible.

Of course, pretty much everyone else found it hilarious. Hope, being the kind, gentlemanly person that he is, forced a smile and accepted the gift. And when Axel told him to put it on, the younger boy didn't complain. He simply forced another smile, stated a simple, "Axel. I hate you. I hope that you cut off your dick in your sleep," and slipped the thing on.

Axel, of course, took this as a compliment, and simply hugged the boy and said, "YES! YOU'RE LEARNING!"

Selphie of course dragged Kairi into the nearest designer store they could find, which ended up being an Abercrombie and Fitch.

Okay, I have nothing against Abercrombie and Fitch, other than the fact that that place is freaking _expensive_. And that's what I had told Selphie. Unfortunately for me, she started yelling about how I was being so mean to Kairi because she was depressed and I wasn't offering to buy her anything like a gentleman would.

Kairi of course, was too busy being depressed to argue with her.

Needless to say, I ended up buying Kairi a white "Kylie" jacket that cost me three-hundred-sixty munny. We were about to leave the store, but then Selphie found this perfume that she absolutely adored called Perfume 41. Honestly, you'd think that since Abercrombie and Fitch was such an elite, expensive store, they'd be more creative with names, but I guess not.

I wasn't going to buy it for her. Hell no. It was _four-hundred munny_ for _one ounce_. That's just outrageous!

But then she started making me feel bad for her, and she kept reading the description of the perfume over and over again. All the way to the point that I ended up _memorizing_ the stupid description:

"_His number is better on you! Full of intricate complexity, 41 is fresh and floral with a soft and feminine sensuality. An addictive scent that entices the spirit, making you feel confident and beautiful! Warm and seductive—like a long kiss on a cool night. No one can deny that 41 was made for the woman who's not afraid to be sexy."_

And then Selphie started going on about how the perfume was a _perfect_ description of her, and that it was practically _made_ for her. Then she pointed out that there was only one bottle left, so she wouldn't be able to come back and get it later. . .

So yeah. I ended up buying it for her.

Hayner, Olette, Demyx, Riku, and Xion wanted to stop by Hot Topic. The store specializes in its namesake. The current hot topics. It has all this stuff from music, and bands, and pop culture, and all that good stuff.

Xion wanted these plush headphones that had panda ears attached. So when you put them on, they make you have panda ears. Honestly, I thought it was kind of stupid. But then Selphie and Naminé started gushing about how cute it was, and Xion gave me these puppy dog eyes, and I figured that if I spent four-hundred munny on an ounce of Selphie's perfume, then I could definitely spare two-hundred-seventy munny to buy Xion her panda headphones.

Hayner and Riku found this life-sized cardboard cutout of Justin Bieber. Did they want it? Yes. Do they like Justin Bieber? Hell no. What were they going to do with it? I was too scared to ask. Did I end up buying it for them? Yes. I mean, it was only three-hundred-fifty munny, and if it satisfied the two of them, then it was a pretty good deal.

Out of all the cool things in the store, all Olette wanted was a notebook. Then again, it was a pretty cool notebook. It was one of those Harry Potter notebooks that had the insignia of the "Deathly Hallows" on it, whatever _that_ was supposed to be. I wasn't going to buy it for her as revenge for calling me delusional this morning, but then she guilt-tripped me. Shocker, right? She was all, "But Roxas! You _know_ that my dream is to become a famous author one day! You're _crushing my dreams_ by not getting this for me! I thought you were my friend!" and all that mumbo jumbo.

So, I spent one-hundred-seventy munny on that.

Demyx really wanted this CD called "_Blood on The Dance Floor- All the Rage_," and I guess he felt rude asking me for munny (Axel had probably told him not to bring any munny since I usually end up paying for everything) since he probably doesn't consider us very close, but I felt bad for him. He kept staring at it the entire time we were at the store. And since it was only ninety munny, I got it for him.

Pence and Tidus said that they didn't want anything, but when they said that, I automatically figured that it meant that they were going to want extra ice cream at Uncle Scrooge's.

It was Sora that was a little eager to buy something, too. Unlike the others who shopped at more "mature" places, Sora wanted to shop at a pretty. . . "immature" place.

"I want to go to Wonderland!"

The fourteen of us looked at Sora in confusion. Wonderland was a toy store. He was seventeen. What did he want to buy _there_?

It was Riku who spoke. "Come on, Sora. A toy store? What are you going to buy there?"

Sora frowned and shrugged, "I'm not sure, I haven't _looked yet_."

Tidus rolled his eyes, "C'mon Sora. You can just get extra ice cream at Uncle Scrooge's. That's what I'm doing!"

I knew it.

But Sora merely shook his head. "I want to go to the toy store! C'mon Kai—"

Kairi, who had been admiring her shoes, immediately looked up as the first syllable of her name left Sora's mouth. There was a kind of hopeful look on her features, and I felt really bad when Sora's eyes widened and he cut himself off, automatically turning away from her. It wasn't long until the hopeful expression on her face was gone.

"I-I change my mind. Let's just go to Uncle Scrooge's. . ."

Sora looked utterly defeated, and it wasn't long until Naminé's eyebrows knit together in mild worry. "W-Wait! No, I want to go to the toy store."

We all looked at her in mild confusion, but she suddenly looked extremely serious.

"Um. . . Okay, Naminé," I said, somewhat skeptically. I would have thought that she would've wanted art supplies or something, but apparently not. I walked towards her slowly, but before I got to her, she immediately turned to Sora.

"Sora, do you want to come in, too? Please?"

Sora looked at her curiously, before a smile ended up on his face. "Sure, Nams. Whatever you want!"

I couldn't stop myself from smiling as I trailed after them into the toy store.

* * *

Inside, it was like a little kid's wonderland, which is probably where it got its name. The shelves were packed with toys of all kinds. Stuffed animals, action figures, dolls, pretty much _everything_.

As soon as Sora entered the store, he dashed towards one of the aisles further to the back, exiting my view, and probably Naminé's too. I turned to look at the shorter girl beside me, who had made no move to look at anything in the store at all. "Nami, aren't you going to look around? You said you wanted to stop by the toy store. . ."

She looked up at me and smiled timidly. "I actually didn't really want to buy anything here. . . It seemed like Sora just didn't want to be the only one to go alone. I figured that Kairi would want to go in with him, but since he isn't talking to her, I thought that if I. . ."

I felt my mouth shape into a small "o". So she pretty much just did this for Sora's sake. "So you mean, you don't want me to buy you anything?"

She frowned slightly, "No, that's a little rude, don't you think?"

I simply shrugged. "Not really. I wouldn't mind buying you something."

A surprised smile replaced the frown on her lips, "Really? For me?"

I smiled back, "Yeah, why not? Come on, maybe there's something we can find for you." I didn't wait for her to respond as I grabbed her hand, and rushed into the toy store.

And then it dawned on me that I had grabbed her hand, and so I felt my face turn bright red as I let her go. I turned around to apologize for being so abrupt, but found her face was as bright as mine. "I. . . Um. . ."

"Uh. . .How about the stuffed animals then?"

I nodded quickly, "Yeah. . ."

I followed her off to the stuffed animals section, and it seemed like they had every cute animal known to man on those shelves. And that's _a lot_ of stuffed animals. She immediately picked up a light pink bunny, similar to the one that she was holding in my room. She smiled widely at it, before hugging it close to her chest.

"I see you like rabbits?"

Naminé stopped nuzzling the toy rabbit to look up at me with a light giggle, "Yeah, they're my favorite animal."

I smiled, before pulling out my wallet and gesturing for her to hand it over. She shot me a curious look, but she was still giggling. "Here, I'll buy it for you." As I waited for her to give me the object, I began to mentally count how much munny I had left. _One munny, two munny. . ._

Her eyes widened, and she quickly shook her head and set it back down on the shelf. "No, no. I'm okay," she insisted, "It only reminded me of something, so I—"

"OHMYGAWD, ROXAS, THEY SELL POKÉBALLS!"

"Sir, you can't climb the shelves like that! We have ladd—"

BOOM!

I smiled apologetically at Naminé. "Uh, I think I have to go help my brother."

Even though I wanted to buy her the rabbit, I couldn't help but be thankful that my brother had caused a distraction.

I had come to the mall today with two-thousand munny.

I was only faintly surprised to see that I only had ten left.

* * *

"Sora, how do you manage to topple over an entire row of shelves in a toy store?"

My brother frowned, holding the icepack closer to his head, "I was trying to get the pokéballs. . . "

Riku facepalmed himself. "Only you, Sora."

Naminé couldn't stop herself from giggling at my brother. "Pokéballs, Sora? _That's_ why you wanted to go to the toy store?"

My brother continued his childish pout. "Don't be a hater, Nam. We all know that Pokémon are freaking awesome."

The rest of us couldn't help but laugh at his statement.

"LOOK! IT'S UNCLE SCROOGE'S!"

Indeed, Tidus. Indeed it is.

I tried to act as mature as possible about my excitement for the ice cream store, but I found that I just couldn't stop myself. With a single childish squeal of excitement, I bounded for the Ice Cream Parlor. I heard the ringing laughter behind me, before I heard the pounding that meant that my friends were chasing after me too. Or at least, a good amount of them. Selphie and Kairi probably weren't running, and I couldn't see Naminé running eith—

I stand corrected.

In the glass of one of the shops I passed, I saw the petite blonde running after me, followed by a discombobulated mess of Tidus, Pence, Hayner (it seems he had forced Riku to carry their giant Justin Bieber), Olette, Xion, Axel (who was _still_ dragging poor Hope along behind him), Larxene, Demyx, and Sora (who was desperately trying to sprint while clutching the icepack to his head). I couldn't stop myself from closing my eyes and enjoying the moment, letting out a loud, carefree laugh while I was at it.

But closing my eyes seemed to be my downfall.

I felt myself collide into someone, and I heard a loud rustling of papers.

My eyes immediately opened just in time to watch me and the older female that I had bumped into fall to the ground, both of us on our butts. It seems that she was passing out neon orange fliers, but the impact of me running into her caused her to send all of the fliers high up into the air. I felt the shock set in. Holy crap, if I was going to be a proper gentleman, I'd have to pick up all these fliers, and there's like a _million _of them. I forced the thought away from my mind, and stood up. I walked over to the woman I knocked over, and reached out my hand to help her up, while smiling apologetically, "I-I'm sorry. . ."

She looked up at me with kind, blue eyes that matched the color of her hair, but the kindness in them was immediately replaced by shock as she stared at me. "VEN! ?"

I frowned. Ven? What's a 'Ven'?

Before I could ask her though, she continued scolding me, which only led me to believe that this 'Ven' was actually another person. "What are you doing here! ? You're supposed to still be at the Land of Departure! Ventus, you _better_ have a good explanation."

Ven. . .tus? The name rings a bell. . .

_Hope simply shrugged again, "These two college kids. I think their names were Ventus and Vanitas. . ."_

_Vanitas turned to look at me too, his glare intensifying. And that was when I realized it. This was the first time that he even glanced at me, ever since I entered the Gym. "AND YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TOLD THE MANAGER THAT VENTUS AND I ROBBED THAT FREAKING PANERA BREAD!"_

My eyes widened in sudden realization, and I desperately shook her head in a lame attempt to get her to understand me, "N-No! You don't understand! I'm not Ventus, I'm—"

"Roxas! Are you alright! ?"

"Aqua, what happened! ?"

I turned around from the chorus of voices behind me to see that my friends had finally caught up to me, and that a woman who seemed to be around the same age as the blue-haired lady I had knocked down (whose name I could only assume was Aqua) but with a shock of pink hair was running towards me, a tall, young man with spiky brown hair close behind her.

Hope had turned around too apparently, because he spotted the newcomers just as quickly as I did. "_Lightning_?"

The woman with the pink hair (whom I assumed was Lightning) skidded to a stop beside him and blinked in mild confusion, before turning her eyes to Hope. "_Hope_? What are you doing here?"

Axel immediately let go of Hope's wrist, a somewhat worried expression on his face. I found this _incredibly_ shocking, since seeing Axel actually look _genuinely worried_ was a rare occurrence. He looked between Hope and Lightning quickly, before finally letting out a concerned, "You two know each other?"

There was a slight smile on Lightning's face, but as soon as she heard Axel's voice, it was immediately dropped and quickly whipped her head towards him. "_Axel_! ?"

Axel's eyes widened and he gave Hope a desperate look. Hope on the other hand merely furrowed his eyebrows in mild confusion, but said nothing, much to Axel's disappointment. Unlike the usual bright blue eyes I was used to seeing, Lightning's eyes were an extremely pale shade, and if I hadn't looked at them closer, I would've assumed that they were gray. She looked at Axel suspiciously, before stepping in front of Hope protectively, "I swear, Axel, if you do _anything_ to corrupt my brother, I _will_ kill you."

Axel looked stunned for a second before a playful smirk came onto his features, "You wouldn't _literally_ kill me, right?"

The intense glare on her features was the only response she gave him, and the seriousness in it was enough to get Axel to shrink behind Larxene, making his blonde girlfriend roll her eyes.

I frowned, "Wait, you and Hope are brother and sister?"

Lightning looked at me for a second, before seemingly spotting someone else in the crowd that she recognized (and ignoring my question), "Naminé? Naminé Soto?"

Naminé smiled timidly before making a slight step forward. "Hey, Light. . . Long time no see, huh?"

The smile returned to Lightning's face as she hugged the younger girl. "I know Hope said that you had come to Twilight Town, too, but I hadn't actually _believed_ it. . ."

Hope furrowed his brows and huffed, "Thanks for having so much faith in me, Light."

The man that had come behind Lightning seemed to have already helped Aqua up, and interrupted the reunion just before it got to its climax. "Aqua, are you alright?"

Aqua had already begun dusting herself off, but looked up at the man to smile. "Oh, nothing really. I just sort of tripped. . ."

I couldn't help but smile at the fact that she was obviously covering me, and shot her a grin as my thanks. She smiled back and nodded, which I could only assume meant that she had accepted my gratitude. "Uh, can you help me clean this up, Terra?"

I felt a twinge of guilt hit me instantly. I mean, it_ was_ technically my fault for not looking where I was going in the first place. . . The least I could do was help. "Oh, uh. . . I can help, too!"

It seemed like suddenly, it was "Let's help these random strangers clean up all these obnoxiously colored fliers!" time, and a majority of my friends volunteered themselves to help too.

"Hey, I don't mind helping either!"

"Yeah, same!"

"Me, too!"

"Count me in!"

"Don't forget me!"

Lightning turned to look at Axel, somehow managing to catch his gaze while he was cowering behind his girlfriend. There was still a minute glare on her face, but it wasn't as intense as before. "Aren't you going to volunteer to help, too?"

Axel smiled apologetically, before half-heartedly pumping his fist and shouting in a strained voice, "You got it, Light!"

Lightning glared at him more. "Don't call me that."

Axel squeaked before stepping out from behind Larxene and sloppily saluting her, "Yes ma'am!"

Lightning did nothing but roll her eyes in annoyance.

* * *

While we were cleaning, I discovered a lot about what was _really_ going on here. Basically, I found out a lot more about these newcomers that I had just met. Courtesy of Naminé, of course. I ended up spending a majority of my time picking up fliers with her today. She really is an interesting girl. Before she started telling me what she knew about the newbies, we teased Sora about the ever-growing knot that seemed to be forming atop his head, convinced Riku to not destroy his gigantic Justin Bieber cutout by smashing it through Hayner's head, annoyed Axel to the point that he started screaming like a banshee which only made Lightning glare at him some more, which resulted in Axel freaking out and scrambling to apologize, and laughed our heads off for a majority of the forty-five minutes that it took to clean up the fliers.

I never thought I could laugh so hard in one day.

Though she was first a creepily quiet girl that seemed to be scared to say anything more than two words to me, it turns out that she's a _huge_ loudmouth. Well, maybe not as much as _Sora_, or quite frankly, anyone else in the friend group, but. . .

Okay, she's not a loudmouth. But she's cool, and I like her. A lot.

Oh! But I mean, not in _that_ kind of way! I mean in the way that I want to get to know her better!

. . . Haha, _duh_.

Anyway, it turns out that the "Land of Departure" is the name of an Orphanage. It's a weird name for one though, isn't it? Anyway, it's where Terra, Ventus, Aqua, and Vanitas spend a majority of their spare time. I found this as a _huge_ shock since I couldn't see Vanitas as anything but a crazy Mafia Bass, but apparently, the four of them were orphans there and had never gotten adopted. So when they became eighteen, the four of them rented out an apartment together. But they still visit the Orphanage as much as they can, because they've apparently bonded with a bunch of the younger kids there. Touching story, is it not?

At first, I was somewhat surprised as to how Naminé knew so much about them, but she told me that Olette told her. And _that_ I could understand. Olette volunteers at the Orphanage a lot, so it's not really a surprise that she would know a good amount about her fellow volunteers. What _was _surprising was the fact that Aqua lives in an apartment with _three_ boys. Dude. She has my utter respect.

And it t turns out that Hope and Lightning aren't actually related. Well, by blood anyway. It turns out that Lightning's family had adopted Hope when he was only four. Naminé didn't get into too much detail, but she did say that Lightning was very protective of Hope, and had been campaigning against her parents for Hope to live with her and study in Twilight Town. Apparently, Hope had left without saying goodbye to Naminé, which is why she was so surprised that he had come to Twilight Town, too.

There were so many questions that I wanted to ask her: Was there a reason he left without saying goodbye to you? You seem kind of bitter about it. Were you two fighting? About what? Where did you guys come from that was so bad that Lightning actually wanted to _campaign _for Hope to come here?

Unfortunately, my gut feeling told me that if I asked anything like that, the conversation would just go downhill from there, and Naminé would get all awkward around me. I definitely didn't want that, not when I was just starting to realize how awesome she actually she was.

And so, I forced myself to avoid it.

I did find out that the reason Axel and Lightning and Aqua and Terra and Ventus and Vanitas all knew each other. It was because they all attended the same college, Twilight Town University. Axel and Larxene went to the same one, too, but for some reason, they didn't know the others as well as Axel did. But like me, Naminé had no idea why Axel and Lightning's relationship was so awkward.

Still, if Lightning scares Axel as much as she does, I have a feeling that I don't want to get too close to her. Either that, or Axel's just a complete screw-up that did something absolutely stupid to get someone to hate him.

And knowing Axel, it could go either ways.

"All done!" Xion chirruped merrily, turning my attention upwards towards her.

The others had probably already begun migrating back towards where I had first bumped into Aqua. We had all ended up scattering ourselves throughout the mall, promising Aqua, Lightning, and Terra that we would help them retrieve all the fallen papers. Since the Moogle Mall is two stories, and I had just happened to bump into Aqua on the second story, some of the fliers had been scattered onto the bottom level too. I didn't think it was that big of a deal to pick them all up, but Terra had explained that the one condition to allowing them to pass out fliers at the mall was that they weren't allowed to litter. So apparently, even when they had finished up for the day, they'd have to wander around the mall and pick up all the fliers that people had ungraciously discarded.

They were all obviously dedicated to whatever cause they were supporting by passing out the bright orange papers.

I was shaken out of my reverie when Naminé gently tugged my shirtsleeve, lightly gesturing for me to walk with her as we traveled back to our rendezvous point. I guess we had been goofing off more than I had thought since we each were only holding about half an inch worth of fliers. "That felt like forever, didn't it? To be honest, I'm kind of sad that it's over, even though I'm really happy at the same time too. . ."

Part of me wanted to smile at her innocent honesty, while the other part wanted to be worried that she was sad. Since I was unhappy with either of the two choices, I decided to just give her a curious look instead. "Why sad? Even though it's taken us over four hours to get to a freaking Ice Cream Parlor, Uncle Scrooge's ice cream is _definitely_ worth it. You should try his Sea Salt Ice Cream, it's absolutely _heavenly_! And I mean, we're still going, so you don't have to worry about that either."

Naminé giggled, her blue eyes twinkling. "No, silly. I wasn't upset because I thought that we wouldn't be getting ice cream anymore!"

I felt a small frown tug at the edges of my lips, "Oh. Then why did you say you were kind of sad?"

Her face immediately flushed a bright red, much to my surprise. "I-It's nothing. . ."

My frown deepened, and I stepped in front of her, making sure that she couldn't escape the question. "Aw, c'mon, Nams. You can't bring something up like that, and then refuse to tell me about it! That's like cheating!"

Looking back, I'm astounded at myself. I sounded so _whiny_. Almost as bad as Sora! _Almost_. Gee, I guess it really was an out of character moment for me, huh?

"Who said we were playing a game?" Though her face was still light pink in color, she managed to cross her arms playfully.

I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes, a slow smirk threatening to appear on my face as another (probably horrible) pun came to mind. "Of course we're playing a game. The game of _life_." She giggled once more, managing to step around me while I soaked in the fact that someone had actually laughed at one of my horrible puns. It didn't take long until I caught up to her once more, continuing to pester her to get the answer to my question. "Seriously, Nami. Why can't you tell me?"

If you thought I was being childish and Sora-like before, I have to warn you that it got worse. But just a little bit. I mean, I _am _Roxas after all. I have no intention of sinking down to _Sora's_ level. (Sora, I really hope that you're seriously not telepathic and secretly hearing these thoughts right now)

I allowed a childish pout to appear on my features, which only made Naminé giggle even harder.

"Tell me!"

She quickly shook her head, and I was only slightly surprised to find that her cheeks were still a rosy pink color.

"_Nammykins_!"

She stifled a giggle, but still shook her head before turning her head away from my direction to avoid looking at me.

I quickly walked to her other side, "Come _on_, Naminé!"

She shook her head again and turned away, but I saw the playful smile that was still dancing on her lips. I stepped in front of her once more, dropped my stack of papers, and grabbed her shoulders. Her eyes widened at the sudden contact, and probably at the fact that we would have to pick up all those papers again. I'm not entirely sure what it was, but something in me was so _desperately _eager to hear what was making her upset. "Please, Naminé?"

Her cheeks flushed even more, and her bright blue eyes tried to look anywhere but at me. It seemed that she realized that I really _was_ the only thing there was to look at since I was blocking everything else, and she clutched her stack of papers closer to her chest before quickly looking downward, the only place where she _wouldn't _have to look at me.

I'm not entirely sure what possessed me to do this next. Seriously. Maybe it was the fact that I hadn't eaten for about seven or eight hours and I was going slightly crazy. Maybe it was because just _that_ curious to find out what was bothering her. Maybe it was because Sora's random and usually bold actions were beginning to rub off on me. Or maybe Olette _was _right, and I _am _going slightly delusional. I seriously have _no_ idea.

But I let go of her right shoulder, and used my hand to tilt her head up, forcing her to look at me. "Naminé. . . Please?"

If it was possible, her face became even _redder_, and her eyes seemed to search my face for something. It was only a matter of seconds before she finally cracked, "Okay, fine. . . I just. . . Even though we spent a majority of these past few hours doing the weirdest, randomest things. . . I. . . Feel like. . . It made me happy, getting to spend all this time with you, and we're probably going to end up going home soon, and I just. . . I didn't want it to end. . . I. . . Had a lot of fun with you, Roxas."

I felt my eyes widen in surprise. I hadn't expected her to say _that_. Immediately, I felt the heat rush up to my face, and I felt my left arm fall from her shoulder. Her face as red as ever, Naminé turned her head away from me again, her hair obscuring a majority of her face from my view.

We stood awkwardly like that for what felt like ages. Honestly, I was at a loss of words as to what I should say to that. I wanted to say something like, "Don't worry, it's not like we can't hang out again another time!" or, "Don't be sad about _that_, I promise that there will always be time to hang out again like this." I'd even be happy if I managed just to say a simple, "Me too." But being the idiot I am when I get into situations like this, I found that I could only stumble around my words. "I. . . Uhh. . . I mean. . ."

It seemed that Naminé had already turned back to look at me though, a wide smile on her face and her previous blush gone. "Thanks, Roxas."

I managed to smile back at her, and before I knew it, she was giving me a huge hug. Since I wasn't expecting it, I felt my face redden some more before I awkwardly hugged her back. "N-No. . . I. . . Uh. . . It's not a big deal. . ."

She pulled away from me, a faint blush on her cheeks and the smile still gracing her features, before stepping around me, and continuing to walk towards our rendezvous point.

I blinked in slight confusion, before shaking myself out of my daze. "Hey, Naminé! Where are you going! ?"

She turned her whole body around to face me, and began walking backwards. "_I'm_ going back to meet up with the rest of the gang. _You_ seem to have dropped some fliers." She giggled, before turning back around, and dashing off to the rendezvous point.

I forced myself to look downwards at the mess I had made. Lucky for me, the air conditioning didn't seem to make most of the fliers fly away, and in fact, most of them ended up strewn around the same area.

Still. . . it was work.

I let out a sigh, letting myself glance once more in the direction that Naminé had run off in, before picking up the papers that I had let fall.

_Come on, Roxas. . . Remember the ice cream_! I kept reminding myself the same thing over in over in attempt to get myself to move faster, but I couldn't help like there was a slightly bigger reason as to why I wanted to get back to my friends.

Of course, I had no idea what it was.

* * *

Eventually I had made my way back near the front of the Ice Cream Parlor. I had expected all of my friends to have immediately dashed into the store to stuff as much ice cream as was humanly possible into their mouths, but I guess I was wrong. In fact, a majority of my friends seemed to actually be _waiting_ for me.

And that right there immediately made me curious.

Larxene, Axel, Hope, Demyx, Sora, Hayner, Tidus, Olette, Kairi, Selphie, and Xion were all discussing something outside the shop, but Naminé, Pence, and Riku were nowhere to be found, so I could only assume that they had gone inside the store. Aqua, Lightning, and Terra weren't around either, but it seemed like everyone was rid of their fliers already except me (and the single one that Axel was holding), so the trio had probably migrated into the ice cream shop, too.

"Uh. . . You guys? Aren't we going to get the ice cream now?"

The group immediately looked up at me, and for once, all of their faces showed that they were having a pretty intense conversation.

"Roxas! Roxas would totally want to do it!"

I frowned at my twin's voice, "Um. . . Do _what_?"

Hayner rolled his eyes. "Come _on_, Roxas. Don't tell me that you spent all that time collecting fliers that you didn't even take the time to at least _read_ one."

I blinked, realizing that in fact, I _hadn't_ taken the time to actually read one. Hayner sighed, realizing what I had. "Okay, well read one. It'll get you caught up."

I nodded slowly, curiosity beginning to take over me. I looked downward at the fliers that I was carrying, and commenced reading.

**100,000 MUNNY OPPORTUNITY!****  
YOU, **_**DON'T**_** WANT TO MISS THIS!**

**Are you musically inclined?  
Do you feel like you could make it in the big leagues?**

**Well, HERE'S YOUR CHANCE!**

**The ****Land of Departure Orphanage**** will be hosting their first ever ****BATTLE OF THE BANDS****! Sponsored by ****THE ORGANIZATION****!**

**First Place Winners: 100,000 Munny! AND a RECORD DEAL! AND a World-To-World Cruise!  
Second Place Winners: 10,000 Munny! AND a World-To-World Cruise!  
Third Place winners: 5,000 Munny!**

**HURRY AND SIGN UP NOW! SPOTS ARE LIMITED! **

**CONTACT ****MISTER ERAQUS AT 456-7890****!**

**OR**

**CONTACT ****MISTER XEMNAS AT 000-0001****!**

I couldn't help but blink in surprise. One-hundred-thousand munny! ?

"I had heard a rumor about this at the orphanage, but I haven't visited in a while, so I didn't realize that they were actually going through with it!"Olette said, obvious surprise in her voice.

Axel merely shrugged, "Technically, I'm _part_ of the organization. So I already knew about it."

Demyx nodded in agreement while Larxene only rolled her eyes, "Riiight. I forgot that you were 'Number Eight.' And what about you Demyx? 'Number Nine,' aren't you?" She simply scoffed, "I think that the whole thing is kind of stupid."

Axel rolled his eyes, "You can't really talk, Larx. _You've_ just started your initiation, haven't you? _'Number Twelve._'"

She didn't respond, and I took it as my opportunity to ask a question, "What _is_ The Organization anyway?"

Demyx simply sighed, "It's this college group at Twilight Town University for the 'elite.' It's headed by these rich guys, Xemnas, Xigbar, and Xaldin. A lot of people are against the group, and I honestly have no idea how I even got _in_."

I nodded slowly, "Okay, so what's the big deal about this flier? I still don't get it." Okay, actually I did get it. I had a _huge_ feeling that I knew where this was getting to, but I didn't want to point it out.

Sora simply guffawed at me, "Come _on_, Roxas! Don't you get it! ? We at least have _some_ musical talent. We should totally enter!"

I knew it.

I let out a sigh, "Sora, we don't have enough members for a _band_."

He shook his head, obviously very excited about this idea, "No way! Hope is really good on the piano, so he can be our keyboard player, and Hayner plays the bass in our school's Jazz Band! And Jazz Band is _audition-only_, so he must be amazing! And Tidus, too! He plays drums! Plus, me and you? We're pretty good at guitar. _And_ we can sing! We can switch between lead vocals and lead guitar!"

I stared at him thoughtfully, before glancing at Kairi. She was still here, maybe she'd want to do vocals. . . She _is_ an amazing singer after all. . . "How about we get Kairi on lead vocals?"

Sora looked at me with a mixture of shock and horror, while Kairi looked at me with a mixture of hope and surprise. "M-Me?"

I smiled back at her, "Yeah, you. You'd be _great_! We'd totally win if we had your voice!"

A small smile graced Kairi's features, and she slowly nodded. "I-I'd love to do it!"

But Sora shook his head desperately, "No!"

The smile had disappeared from Kairi's features, and I shot an exasperated look at my brother, "Well, why the hell not? Give me _one_ reason why we shouldn't have Kairi in our band."

Sora seemed to struggle to think of one, "W-We can't all be guys, and then randomly have a female lead singer! It's weird!"

I easily shook my head and rebutted him, "Paramore. All guys, female lead singer. One of the most successful bands _ever_."

He frowned, and struggled to think of another one, "Uh. . . It would make practicing harder if we had a girl on our team!"

I looked at him curiously. I mean, that was one of the _lamest_ excuses ever, "Sora, don't be stupid. It wouldn't make a difference. We all hang out together anyway without a hitch."

His frown deepened, "I. . . I. . ."

Hayner looked at him with confusion, and so did Tidus and Hope. "I think that having Kairi is a great idea. What's the big problem?"

"Yeah! Kairi's going to be famous, and we can help her out!"

"I think that it would be cool to have Kairi in the band."

I couldn't help but smirk at my fellow "band-mates" for agreeing with me. "So, Sora? What's the big deal?"

There was a mixture of desperate anger on his face, as he blurt out, "I just _don't want Kairi_ in our band! I don't want to have to see her every time we practice! I don't want to have to spend more time than I have to, hanging out with _her_!"

An awkward silence settled throughout the group. We all knew that Sora was having some sort of issue with Kairi, even though he insisted that everything between them was just fine. But still. . . no one had expected him to say something so. . . _mean_. Slowly, we all turned our gazes to Kairi to see how she would react. The auburn-haired girl's lip was quivering madly, and it was obvious that she was desperately trying to hold back her tears. It didn't take long for her to crack though, and she burst into tears as she ran off.

"Kairi, wait!" Selphie screeched, darting off after her best friend.

Xion and Olette looked at each other, expressions of worry on each of their faces. They simply nodded at each other, before running after Kairi, too.

I turned towards my brother, anger evident on my face, "What the hell, dude! ? What's your big _problem_! ?"

To my surprise, Sora looked absolutely broken. He had collapsed onto the floor, and was currently just sitting there. He himself looked shocked at the words that he just said. "I. . .I just. . ."

Larxene growled at my older twin, "You _idiot_. I understand if you're having a fight, but it's obvious that you being angry with her is just a huge _façade_. Grow some balls, and _apologize_, you stupid lowlife."

Sora seemed to break even more at her words, and he hung his head down in shame. Larxene simply scoffed at his movement, before stomping off in the general direction that Kairi had run off.

"Larxene, wait! Where are you going?"

The blonde-haired college student spun around to face her boyfriend. "Well. If that idiot refuses to let her join his _stupid band_, then I'm going to get her, and we'll make _our own_ band."

Axel's jaw dropped. "But, Larxene! Members of The Organization aren't allowed to enter the contest!"

Larxene simply narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not officially part of The Organization, now am I?" When Axel said nothing, she simply shook her head. "Don't think too much into it. I'm going to fix this."

And with that, she dashed off after the rest of the girls.

The rest of us were at a loss for words. But still, one question lingered on all of our tongues: Just _what_ was Larxene planning to fix? And how did she intend to do it?

* * *

Not so far away from all this commotion, a blonde haired girl in a white dress laughed along with her newfound friends. She was absolutely oblivious to all the drama that was beginning to unfold not even a mile away. In fact, she felt worriless. Absolutely free. She felt like she could just jump up and _fly_. She hadn't felt this happy in a long time.

She was only mildly concerned when the rest of her friends never showed up to eat ice cream. In fact, she sensed that there was a sort of tension between all of them. And the thought pained her. Still, she paid the bill for the rest of her friends, choosing to believe another blonde's words. Albeit, this blonde was a boy with gravity-defying spikes and a smile that charmed the girl. But the girl knew his secret. The smile that he continued to smile wasn't a real one. In fact, it was absolutely fake. She longed to see his true smile, picturing it to be something of pure happiness, but she knew that it would be a long time before she, let alone the rest of his friends, would be allowed to see it.

"_Don't worry, everything's going to be alright. It's not a big deal._"

Still, it was hard to believe him when the falseness of his smile was so obvious to her. It was clear that there was something that he was hiding. But she didn't intend to pry, and so she decided not to bring it up.

The girl was surprised when she saw her dear cousin once more. Instead of looking absolutely depressed as she usually did, she seemed to have gained some sort of newfound strength. A little bit of her former confidence was back, and there was a tint of the old sparkle back in her eyes. She was indeed _extremely_ curious as to what she had missed, and as to what had made her cousin's formal resolve come back, even though it was just by a little bit.

"_I'm in a band now, Nami. I think I'm actually kind of excited. . ._"

The girl had smiled widely at her cousin before pulling into a long hug.

It was quite late when the girl arrived back home. She was extremely tired, but she still felt a small form of guilt for not completing her project today at the blonde boy's house. She would stop by and finish it tomorrow. She promised herself that she would.

She changed into her pajamas, and crawled into her borrowed bed. The dim light in the room seemed to be somewhat melancholy, and the girl allowed a sad smile to appear on her face as she remained sitting up. She reached around her neck to unclasp the familiar locket that she had worn since her departure of _that place_. When the job was done, she rubbed the engraved words and design on it affectionately, the smile disappearing, and a look of pure sadness taking place on her features.

The girl carefully opened the locket, not wanting to break the precious object accidentally.

The right side of the locket was still blank, but on the left side was a picture of a beautiful woman with long, golden hair. She was kissing the cheek of a young child with the same golden hair, a smile dancing on her lips. It was obvious in the picture that the young girl was laughing.

Naminé clutched the locket tighter in her hand, closing her eyes as the tears began to stream down her face.

_Mother? I don't know if you can hear me, but today I had fun. I haven't for a long time now, but. . . Still._

Mother? I was actually happy today. And this time, I wasn't pretending. I think it was the best day that I've had for a while. . .

Yet, Kairi's so sad, mother. I'm not sure what I can do to help her. I feel wrong feeling so happy when it's obvious that she's hurting so much inside. . . But I think it's getting better. She seemed a little happier at the end of the day. . .

And mother? There's this boy. . . I'm sure you'd like him a lot. He's so sweet, and kind, and he's a good friend. But I think that he's hurting inside, too. I want to help, but I'm not sure how. . .

_Mother? I miss you, and I love you._

_Please. . . Please be alright._

* * *

**A Wishful Thought:** Dang. I'm not sure how to feel about this chapter. The length made it seem **dragging** didn't it? Still, I'm proud I was able to write this much. XD

Though it's a little lame, I feel like I finally got the **whole stage set** for what's going to happen. I think. XD

I just want everyone to know now, **Battle of the Bands is not **_**that**_** important to the story.** Lol, it'll tie in later. (:

I was planning to throw in more Namixas, but I'm starting to find that I _suck_ when it comes to writing about growing romantic relationships. Ah well, I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. XP

I don't intend to ramble too much here, so if you'd like to hear (or rather, _read_) my full thoughts on the chapter, just go to:

**Wishfulhopes(dot)wordpress(dot)com [remove the (dot)s and replace them with actual periods. XP]**

There are probably a good amount of **typos** in this chapter, so **please feel free to point them out to me so that I can correct** **myself**. :)

**Next Time:** The Battle of the Bands has begun, and band names shall be revealed! :D Haha, I think that some people might be able to figure out the name of Sora and Roxas' band. I sort of gave it away. ;D Not sure if anyone caught it though. And maybe some other things may pop up. We'll see how it goes. ;D

Please _**review**_! I'd love to hear your opinions! :D


	10. Flames and Band Talk

**A Wishful Thought:** Ah, I'm so glad that I was able to get this in before my birthday. XP On July 6, I'll be a whole year older!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to review:

**Zoe the Hunter****, ****mybest321****, ****Sato Tadashi****, ****KeybladeMaster97****, ****HeartlessRhapsody****, ****Dreamer-Tsuki****, ****CupcakeLerman**,** and** **Lorrey**! You guys make me smile. (:

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! :D

And without further ado, here is the latest chapter of Nonexistent. :D

**Disclaimer:** No, I do _not_ own any of the Kingdom Hearts characters. Nor do I own the songs that may or may not show up in this chapter. I really don't own anything at all.

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _Flames and Band Talk_

**Roxas Hikari**, **Riku Takama**, and **7 others** are now friends with **Lightning Farron**.

**Xion Soren**, **Hayner Arden** and **10 others** are now friends with **Aqua Tarata.**

**Kairi Soto**, **Pence Taylor** and **10 others** are now friends with **Terra Fonté.**

**Naminé Soto **and **Hope Estheim** are now friends with **Aerith Gainsborough**.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Larxene Flash** is deathly bored. **Kairi Soto**,** Xion Soren**, **Olette Hart**, **Selphie Tilmitt**, you guys up for some Band Talk?

**Selphie Tilmitt**: You betcha! Though I'm not entirely sure where we should start. . .

**Hayner Arden:** Whoa. Whoa. WHOA. Wait a second. Olette, you're in a BAND! ?

**Olette Hart:** Yes I am, Hayner. You act like it's such a shocker.

**Hayner Arden: **. . . Well, that's because it sorta is.  
**Roxas Hikari**, **Riku Takama**, and **28 others** like this.

**Larxene Flash:** Hayner? Off my status. NOW.

**Tidus !#$:** Aw, cmon Larxene. Facebook is public domain. You cant kick us off.

**Larxene Flash:** Oh yeah? WATCH ME.  
**Kairi Soto**, **Selphie Tilmitt** and **33 others** like this.

**Xion Soren: **I'm just going to trust that theyre gone now. But Tidus (surprisingly) has a point. ANYWHO, I think we should start talking about our image first. That's always important.

**Selphie Tilmitt:** I have to agree. That's something we should probably decide first.

**Larxene Flash: **I think I have a few ideas up my sleeve. . .

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Naminé Soto** to **Roxas Hikari**

**Naminé Soto:** Alright, I may just be wrong, but did Kairi and Sora seriously unfriend each other on Facebook?

**Roxas Hikari:** I just checked. And yeah, it seems like it. . . Dang. Now their fight is Facebook Official.

**Naminé Soto: ***sigh* They're seriously blowing this whole thing out of proportion. . .

**Roxas Hikari:** You've got that right.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Olette Hart** needs to talk to **Roxas Hikari** ASAP. Like, seriously.

**Hayner Arden:** May I ask why?

**Olette Hart: **Huh? Oh, it's not a big deal. Don't worry, I've got it all sorted out.

**Hayner Arden:** . . . You sure? Your status makes you seem kinda desperate. . .

**Olette Hart:** Desperate? Me? Haha. . . RIIIIIIIGHT.

**Roxas Hikari:** I'm only slightly curious as to why you had to make this your status instead of just instant messaging me or texting me or calling me or something of the sort.

**Olette Hart:** Idiot. You're offline on not only Facebook Chat, but also on Yahoo Messenger, AIM, and MSN. And I've sent you like a million texts and left a billion voicemails, none of which you bothered to return. I even stopped by your house, but no one was home!

**Roxas Hikari:** Oh. That was you? Haha, WHOOPS.

**Olette Hart: **. . . You know what? Just forget it.

**Roxas Hikari:** Uh. . . I feel kinda bad now. I'll get my cell right now and call you, kay?

**Olette Hart:** No. Just. . . Forget I said anything.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire** just saw **Larxene Flash**'s Facebook status. And since I'm your band manager, **Tidus !#$**, **Roxas Hikari**, **Hayner Arden**, **Hope Estheim**, and **Sora Hikari**, I've decided that we have to have OUR OWN Band Talk. Right here, right now.

**Tidus !#$:** Wait a second, since when were you our band manager?

**Hayner Arden: **Tidus is right. I didn't even know we HAD a band manager.

**Hope Estheim: **AXEL is our band manager! ? Hell no.  
**Roxas Hikari** and **Hayner Arden** like this.

**Larxene Flash:** Axel stop trying to copy me. You guys, Axel just feels left out since he can't participate in the festivities due to the fact that he's an Orgy Member.  
**Tidus !#$**, **Hayner Arden**, and **117 others** like this.

**Roxas Hikari: **Wow Axel. I knew that you were desperate, but. . . wow.  
**Larxene Flash**, **Hope Estheim**, and **62 others **like this.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** Wait no! Larx just said Orgy because she was too lazy to type the whole thing. She meant ORGANIZATION, and that thing is FULL of GUYS. ONLY guys.  
**Demyx Nocturne **likes this.

**Zexion Scheme: **Oh, dear Lord. Axel, you're just making this worse.  
**Luxord Gamblette**, **Marluxia Grace** and **6 others** like this.

**Larxene Flash:** HEEEEY, ZEXY.

**Larxene Flash: **And GREAT point, Axel. I completely forgot about that. Axel's in a GUY ONLY ORGY.  
**Hayner Arden, Hope Estheim **and **297 others** like this.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire: **Dammit Larxene. I'M the one that's supposed to tease people about sexual occurrences!

**Larxene Flash: **Au contraire. Don't be stupid, dahling. Ya know its why you love me. ;)

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire: **. . . Right. Your place in a few?

**Larxene Flash: **I'm ready whenever you are, hun. ;)

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire: **This'll be fun. I'm leaving right now, babe. ;)

**Larxene Flash: **Oh, you know it. I'm bringing out the toys right now.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire: **Ooooh. The new ones?

**Larxene Flash: **Of course. ;)

**Roxas Hikari: **OH GOD. STOP IT. JUST STOP. PLEASE.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._

**Roxas Hikari **You want band talk? Alright, I'll give you band talk. **Hope Estheim**, **Hayner Arden**, **Tidus !#$**, and (I can't believe I'm saying this right now) **Axel ohmygawdimonfire**. My house in twenty minutes.  
**Hope Estheim**, **Sora Hikari** and **2 others** like this.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** DISLIKE. DISLIKEDISLIKEDISLIKE. GOD. I HATE YOU ROXAS.

**Roxas Hikari: **Oh, shut UP Axel. You don't have to come if you don't want to.

**Tidus !#$: **Yeah it just means that you wont be our manager anymore. ;)

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** GRRRRRRRRRRRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! FINE. I'LL BE THERE. And don't EVER use the winky face when you're talking to me again Tidus. EVER.

**Tidus !#$: **What winky face? You mean this one? ;)  
**Hope Estheim**, **Hayner Arden** and **56 others** like this.

**Axel ohmygawdimonfire:** I want to strangle you. Really badly.

* * *

I sighed as I logged off both my computer and Facebook. I still thought that the whole band thing was stupid, and Sora, who was the most enthusiastic about the concept at first, wasn't exactly as excited about it now. It was currently the beginning of October, and the first round was the day of Halloween. This extremely sucked, since it meant that we couldn't parade around town in our outrageous costumes demanding candy from little old ladies, but none of my friends could be persuaded to see it my way. Unfortunately, that meant that I was stuck with it, and I had to help our "band" have an awesome performance ready in three weeks.

Actually, _no_ _one_ seemed that enthusiastic about the whole thing anymore. All of them keep bringing it up like, "Yeah. We're in Battle of the Bands, and we're totally gonna kick your ass!" but we actually haven't done _anything_ for the sake of the band. I _didn't_ want to participate, but I'm easily peer-pressured, which explains how I ended up in this situation. And I mean, they were all talking about how awesome we were going to be, and I didn't want to be stuck with the people that just had big talk and no game.

And I'm pretty damn responsible. That too.

"Mom," I called through my bedroom door, hoping that she could hear me, "I'm having friends over in a bit, kay?"

I waited for a response, but heard none. I groaned and forced myself out of my swirly chair. It was ten in the morning on a _Saturday_. I'm surprised that I had managed to wake up so early. I'm not a morning person. At all. So when I wake up early and can't force myself to fall back asleep, I usually just log onto Facebook to entertain myself and skip breakfast until I'm actually hungry. My mom _hates_ that though, and whenever she finds me out, she usually ends up having a hissy fit.

So you can't exactly be upset with me for just ignoring Olette. She showed up at my house at around _eight in the morning_. Even my _mom_ was still asleep.

It's another reason that I hate school. You're forced to wake up so early to get ready to "learn," that you end up getting used to waking up at that time, and sometimes your body just does it automatically. It really sucks.

I shook my head as if to vanquish all my thoughts, and threw on an old hoodie, before stalking out of my room. Mom was most definitely awake. Sure, she may be a world famous doctor, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have her weekends off. In fact, Sora and I weren't too surprised when we heard her talking to her employer a year or two back, saying something along the lines of:

"_Okay, NO. I refuse to work for you if I don't get my weekends off! . . . Don't you use that tone with me! I have a life too, with my friends and with my family, and I'm not some sort of workaholic! . . . Did you just say that if I continue to refuse working on the weekends that you'll fire me? . . .Well, then. I think I might just quit. I'M WORLD-FAMOUS, DAMMIT. YOU SHOULD BE LUCKY THAT I ACCEPTED YOUR REQUEST TO WORK IN YOUR HOSPITAL.I COULD PROBABLY FIND BETTER WORK FOR MORE PAY AND I—What's that? Oh, I'm glad you see it my way. Thank you!"_

We weren't too shocked to find out that she pretty much had any day she wanted off. Of course (though our mom can be _extremely _scary at times) she's still kindhearted, and works on all days except weekends, holidays, and well. . . The rare lazy day.

The one thing I hate about my mom (other than the fact that she can use the stupid Sora Smirk against me) is her nature to add my friends on Facebook. Sora's too. I mean, it's creepy since she's our MOM. But our friends don't think it's that weird. They accept her request like it's no big deal.

I personally think it's because the more friends they have, the bigger their ego gets.

Anyway, I stumbled upon her in the kitchen. Her back was turned to me, but as I advanced towards her, I couldn't stop myself from cringing at the fact that she was making pancakes. The instant kind.

I couldn't stop myself from looking around for Sora to shoot him a teasing look, but my brother hadn't seemed to leave his room yet.

However, I was forced to stop my halfhearted search when the distinct smell of burning food wafted into my nostrils. My eyes widened, "Mom!"

It seemed like my mom had been preoccupied with her thoughts because I had to call her several times and _shake her_ before she snapped out of it. "W-What happe—Oh no! The pancakes!"

By now, the smoke from the burnt breakfast item had activated the fire alarm, and the siren began wailing. My mother blinked in shock, obviously surprised that she had remained so oblivious to the burning food in front of her. Sora dashed out of his room, and he looked scared senseless. He didn't even have the decency to throw on a shirt before he left his room.

Then again, if I thought that the house was on fire, I would've run out of my room naked if it meant saving my ass.

"Holy crap! What's on fire! ?"

Seeing as both my mother and twin brother seemed too out of it to do much of anything, I lightly shoved them both out of the way to turn off the stovetop. Well, I _thought_ that I had turned off the stovetop. Apparently, I had turned the knob the wrong way, and when I thought I had turned it _off_, I actually just increased the heat.

This was made obvious when the former pancake actually caught on _fire_. And since I was wearing a baggie hoodie, and the sleeve was currently exposed to open flame. . .

"HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT! MY _ARM'S_ ON _FIRE!_"

I expected them to panic and try to help me, or _something _of the sort, but it turns out that I was completely and utterly wrong.

"Oh no, the food!"

"Dammit, I bet we still could've salvaged it or something!"

Of course, it was hard for me to keep my cool and tease them for caring more about the freaking _food_ than my arm, because you know. My _arm_ was on _fire_.

In a desperate attempt to rid my arm of the burning flames, I did what people told you _never_ to do when you're on fire. I started flailing my arm around madly, and screamed my head off.

This of course, made my mom and Sora widen their eyes before timidly backing off, both of them scared that I would accidentally make _them_ catch fire too. It took a few seconds, but eventually my mom went into full Mother Mode.

"OHMYGOD! MY BABY'S ON FIRE!"

Well, no _duh_, woman. I screamed that out a while ago.

My mother had become frantic, and was now darting around the kitchen desperately looking for something to stop my arm from burning off.

Sora blinked, and grabbed a dish towel from inside our pantry. He dashed to the sink and soaked it in cold water before throwing it in my general direction. I had thought that he was attempting to throw it onto my _arm_ but just missed (you know, since I was flailing it around like a mad man), but it was made obvious to me that he had aimed for the pancake when it landed perfectly on top of it, somehow managing to douse the fire.

How nice of you, Sora. Now I know that if you had to pick between me and food, you'd probably choose the food.

My mother however had probably assumed that Sora would take care of putting the fire out on my arm, and had grabbed the house phone. I had assumed that she was dialing the Fire Rescue Team or something, but apparently not.

"H-Hey. . . Uh, hold on. I'm going to add another person to the call. . ."

You seriously have enough time to do that! ? Hello, I'm on FIRE!

"Y-Yeah. . . Can you guys hear each other? Zack? Cloud? Oh, okay. Uh, I'm sorry to be calling so early, and I know that I probably woke you guys up and stuff. . . Oh, I didn't? Oh okay, then Cl—Oh no! I'm so sorry, Zack. I didn't realize that you were asleep and I—Haha, thank you! . . . Huh? Oh, right, right. Well you see—" She managed to glance in my direction at that point, and she shrieked loudly. "R-ROXAS IS ON FIRE!"

I'm beginning to wonder how my arm _hasn't_ crumbled into ash yet.

The fire had started out at just part of my forearm, but it ended up spreading towards my upper arm too. I'm lucky that the hoodie that I had thrown on was _baggy_, because I was able to manage to avoid the hottest parts of the fire. But just by barely.

I was starting to get my saneness back, and had begun hobbling towards the sink in an attempt to douse the flames myself, but all of a sudden, I felt a rush of cold water engulf me. Immediately, I felt the harsh heat on my right arm disappear, although my arm itself still stung. Badly.

My hoodies was soaked through, not that I minded too much, and whoever had thrown the water on me had managed to get my hair too. I found myself gasping for breath that I didn't even realize I needed. With a fresh gulp of air in my lungs, I halfheartedly turned to thank the person that had been levelheaded enough to douse the flames on my arm, but I wasn't expecting what I saw next. And based on my mom and Sora's expressions, they didn't either.

". . . He's not on fire anymore, but yeah. . . That would be great. . ." There was a sharp beep from my house phone signifying that my mother had hung up, and she slowly placed the device on our kitchen counter, before turning her gaze once more to the two people that stood in front of me.

With a bucket in his hands and his arms still outstretched stood Hope, and with a frightened expression, standing behind him, was Naminé.

The silence echoed throughout the room awkwardly, until she quietly asked, "Um. . . Are you okay?"

* * *

Pretty soon, Tidus, Hayner, and Axel arrived, followed by both Cloud and Zack.

After briefly examining the affected area, my mother lamented about not having the proper ointments, and admitted that it would probably be best to stop at the hospital. I immediately felt like freaking out, but she managed to catch my gaze and simply shot me a reassuring smile. "Oh, they're not _that_ bad. They're probably only. . . Second-Degree burns or so. But I think that the ointment will help it heal quicker. . ."

I nodded slowly, my face still flushed. No, not from the fire, but from the fact that my mother insisted that I strip off my hoodie so that she could inspect the damage properly. If it was just the guys (Sora, Tidus, Hayner, Hope, Axel, Cloud, and Zack) and my mom, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal to me.

But Naminé was here.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not uncomfortable about my body. At all. In fact, I'm usually extremely confident about my body. I mean, I'm not _ripped_, but I still think I look pretty hot. Not to sound narcissistic or anything of course. In fact, I'm not entirely sure as to why I was so embarrassed.

She actually couldn't even _see_ me right now. Everyone had circled me worriedly, but when my mom persisted over the fact that I needed to take off my hoodie, Axel couldn't stop himself from snickering and carting Naminé away, claiming, "Now, now, Naminé. You need to maintain _some_ level of innocence, and that means _not_ seeing Roxas half-naked."

Tidus had rolled his eyes saying, "Don't be so overdramatic, Axel. I'm sure she's gone swimming before with a guy. She's probably already seen someone half-naked."

But he stopped arguing when both Hope and Naminé glanced each other, both of them turning a shade of bright red, and followed Hayner, Hope and Axel to a further section of the room.

I would've been more curious about that if I wasn't distracted by the searing pain of my arm, but ah well.

"I'll go start up my car."

Mom smiled and nodded apologetically at Cloud. "Thanks. . ."

As Cloud left, Zack also got up. "Hey, Aerie. . . Mind if I help myself to the linen closet? It might help Roxas out if we soak the burn. . ."

She bit her lip before nodding slowly. Zack went off too, and it was just Sora, mom, and I.

Sora looked upset, but genuinely sorry. "I don't even know what I was thinking. . . I guess I wasn't fully awake yet. . . I should've tried to put out the fire on _you_ instead of the stupid pancake. . ."

I wanted to yell, "Well, no DUH!" but I knew that that wouldn't make him feel any better, so I simply forced myself to smile at him.

My mother on the other hand did a better job at forcing a smile, because I wasn't even _sure_ if she was forcing a smile or not. It looked completely natural. "Don't worry about it too much, Sora. . . I'm sure that if you didn't put out that pancake, something else would've caught on fire too. . ."

I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from lashing out on them.

It didn't take long for Zack to come back with a couple of towels soaked in cold water, and he carefully laid them onto my arm. I muttered my thanks before Cloud entered the house again. "You guys ready?"

My mother nodded, "Y-Yeah. . ."

Zack looked at her for a long time, and I found myself staring at her too. She sure was acting funny this morning. . .

Zack shifted his blue eyes from her though, and turned to look at my friends that had resumed teasing Hope and Naminé in a corner. "I'm guessing you guys wanna come too, huh?"

They looked confused before nodding eagerly, to which Zack only chuckled. "Alright, then. Cloud, you take Aerith and the kids and go on ahead. I'll bring this bunch to the hospital too."

My mother smiled weakly at him, "Thanks, Zack."

He simply shrugged as if to say, "No problem." But on the outside he turned to Naminé and said, "Maybe you should tag along with Sora and Roxas. My car can only hold five people max. . ."

She blinked, but then nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

We all meandered outside, and I could hear the rest of the guys wolf whistle at Zack and Cloud's cars.

Cloud's car was one of those sleek, black Porsches that you saw in racing movies, while Zack had a shiny, black Convertible Porsche. Both were quite attractive.

My mother, who was holding the wet towel to my arm, gestured for Naminé to come over, "Honey, do you mind holding this to Roxas' arm?"

"Oh, not at all, Miss Hikari."

I could see the vein pop out on my mother's forehead.

Cloud seemed to see this too, because he immediately carted my mom off to the passenger side of our car saying, "Calm down, Aerith. Deep breathes now."

Naminé didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary though, and scooted into the car between Sora and I.

* * *

On the way to the hospital, Naminé simply explained that her and Hope had been volunteering at The Land of Departure Orphanage along with Lightning. When Hope had gotten the message that the rest of the band were to meet at our place in twenty minutes, he had insisted that she would be able to come too and invited her to come with him. Apparently, it's not that long of a walk from the Orphanage to our house, because they had gotten their pretty early. They had knocked at the door, but no one answered, and the fact that some sort of alarm was going off and high-pitched screaming was heard kind of made them suspicious. They remembered the time that Hayner had "accidentally broken a window" (actually, he broke into our house to kidnap me. But mom didn't need to know that) and had both squeezed through it since we hadn't gotten it fixed yet. Then they pretty much just found a bucket in our garage, filled it with water, and threw it over me.

By the end of her story, we had made it to the hospital where mom worked. Cloud parked the car in front of the Emergency building, and Zack was right behind him.

"Hey, Roxie. Need someone to carry you?" I shot Axel a glare, and let Naminé help me out of the car.

Mom was already inside talking animatedly to what looked like a head nurse. It only took her a few minutes before she gestured us over, and began leading us towards a room. It seemed like a standard check-up room, and waiting inside was a young woman (one who couldn't be any older than us) with bright red hair. She wasn't wearing the standard Nurse uniform, so it was kind of obvious that she was only a volunteer. She seemed to be playing with her cell phone, and didn't realize that anyone had entered the room until my mom cleared her throat.

Her wide, green eyes looked up at us, a startled expression on her face, "D-Doctor Gainsborough!"

My mother smiled at her, "Ah, Vanille. Volunteering again, I see?"

The girl—Vanille, I assumed—nodded, a small grin of her own spreading onto her features. Eventually, her eyes wandered our group . "Wait a second. Hope Estheim! ? Naminé Soto! ?"

Naminé simply smiled at her in recognition, while Hope stepped forward, a large grin on his face, "Vanille Dia Oerba! I-I haven't seen you since. . ."

Both of their smiles seemed to fade a little, but Vanille seemed to recover hers before Hope. "Yeah, I know what you mean! I've been staying with Fang. You remember her, don't you?"

Hope simply nodded, and was slowly beginning to recover his smile back. My mother looked between the two, before interrupting the long reunion that was bound to take place, "Listen, Vanille. . ." The younger woman's eyes immediately flickered towards my mom, "My son here, Roxas, got into a little. . . _accident_. . ." My mom let out an awkward cough before continuing, "Uh. . . I have to go and talk to Zack and Cloud, but do you mind applying the proper ointments for me?"

Vanille's smile only seemed to widen. "No problem, Doctor Gainsborough! Don't you worry, your son is in good hands!"

My mom looked a little skeptical at that, but it seemed like she desperately needed to talk to Zack and Cloud because she didn't change her mind. The two older men shared a curious look with each other, before trailing after my mom as she exited the room. Everyone that was left spread throughout the room, sitting on the few chairs, the single countertop, and even on the floor. I have to say, I was surprised that they were courteous enough to let _me_ sit on the patient bed, but I didn't say anything.

Vanille was simply humming a tune while she searched the medicine cabinets for the ointment she was looking for. Hope was smiling at her, and Naminé was too, so I suppose that they recognized the song. I faintly heard Naminé mumble, "Memories of. . . Happier Days. . ." which I only assumed was the title of the song.

Since the only noise came from Vanille's merry humming, Axel couldn't stop himself from talking. "Alright! Band talk, here we go!"

Vanille turned enthusiastically at the word, 'band', "Are you guys joining that Battle of the Bands thing? My older sister, Fang, is totally against it, but I think it sounds like fun!"

Axel's expression seemed to fall, "F-Fang?"

Vanille had turned back to the cabinets to find the needed ointments, and didn't see Axel's expression. Hope on the other hand was smirking, "Yeah, Axel. Lightning's best friend."

Axel looked like he was about to die.

"So what should we decide first? I think our image is the way to go," Hayner noted.

Tidus nodded in agreement, before halfheartedly turning to Sora. "I think that's a good idea. . . What about you, Sora?"

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my brother. But ever since that whole, "I don't want to see Kairi unless I have to!" outburst, everyone's been kind of iffy about him. I wouldn't say that _I_ am, because you know, I'm his _twin brother_, but I kind of wish he didn't have to be so moody. He's almost gotten as bad as Kairi when it comes to being all loner like.

"Yeah. . . That's a great idea."

Hope nodded too, and just like that, Hope, Hayner, Axel and Tidus started talking about different "images" they'd like to portray. I found myself not really paying attention though, since I was watching Vanille. I didn't really know this girl, and I was kind of nervous that she would accidentally screw up and give me the wrong ointment. Because that would suck.

It seemed like she had finally found it though, because she had already skipped over next to me, and gestured for me to give her my arm. Naminé delicately removed the moist towel from it, and walked over towards the sink to wring it out. Vanille frowned at the burns, "Geez, what did you do?"

I hesitated for a moment, but figured it wouldn't be that bad to tell her what had happened.

Since I didn't have time to retell the story of my burns, Hayner, Hope, Naminé, Tidus, and even Axel, stopped doing what they were doing so that they could listen. Sora was still sitting on the floor in a corner of the room staring out into space.

I expected at least a _little_ bit of sympathy, but to my surprise (okay, not really. Part of me was totally expecting this.) all of my dear friends broke out into laughter.

"Oh man! What's up with your family and screwing up instant pancakes! ? They can't be _that _hard to make, right?"

I shot a halfhearted glare at Hayner, who only smirked in my direction.

"Dude, I totally know what we should name our band: ATTACK OF THE MONSTER PANCAKES!"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at Tidus, "Seriously? We're naming our band after _pancakes_? I was thinking of something a little more mysterious. . . Like—"

"Oblivion! You guys should totally name the band Oblivion!" Axel yelled, a merry grin on his face.

Hope frowned at him, "Oblivion? I don't really like it."

There was a murmur of agreement from the rest of us, and Axel gasped dramatically. "Fine then! I bet _Xemnas_ would _totally_ let me name something Oblivion!"

We decided to ignore him once more, but like I said before, Axel isn't one to keep quiet. "Okay, back to the image then! The whole contest is pretty much based on votes from the audience, so we need to get your fan-base started. That's important!"

The rest of us opened our mouths to respond, but Vanille seemed to beat us to it with a high-pitched squeal, "Oh, that sounds like so much fun! I'd totally want to start a fan club for you guys, it would be a blast! Wouldn't you like to help out, Nami?"

Naminé's cheeks had turned a bright shade of pink, "I. . . Uh. . .Well. . ."

For some reason, Vanille seemed to take this as her agreeing, because she squealed again, "Oh yeah! This'll be great! Don't worry, you guys, leave me in charge of it!"

Hayner, Tidus, and I couldn't help but give her somewhat skeptical looks. I mean, we _just_ met her. But she seemed pretty enthusiastic about it, so none of us bothered to argue. Axel smiled at her, but it looked like a sort of nervous one. "A-Alright then. Vanille, you're in charge of that." She squealed once more, before turning her attention back to applying the needed ointment to my arm, the occasional giggle escaping her mouth. Axel then continued to speak, "As for image, I think you guys should basically focus on pop music. You know, the cheesy sort of pop ballad love song kind of thing."

The five of us (Sora included) stared at him blankly. The tall red-head only rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean. Boy Bands. Girls love that thing, don't they?" More blank stares. Axel sighed, "You guys really have no idea what I mean?"

Silence.

"Okay then, just trust me when it comes to picking your songs. Now for band names. . ."

I decided to speak up, "Like I said before, I think we should have something kind of mysterious as our band name."

Hayner turned his gaze to me, "Any ideas?"

I pondered this for a moment, but slowly shook my head, "Nope. Nothing. Give me some time here."

Tidus nodded, "I get what you mean though. I think something sort of contradicting would be cool."

Sora let out a chuckle from his corner of the room, "Tidus, I think that 'contradicting' is the biggest word I've ever heard you use."

Tidus turned to playfully kick Sora, "Hey, that's a total lie! I'm pretty sure I've used bigger words before!"

Hope let out a laugh, "Come _on_, Tidus. I may have not known you for long, but I'll have to agree with Sora."

Tidus guffawed at Hope before marching over to Naminé. "Whatever! Naminé's my favorite now. At least _she_ doesn't constantly mock my intelligence!"

Naminé stifled a giggle, "Well, I wouldn't say _that_, Tidus."

Tidus blinked out of shock and stared at her for a minute. He backed away slowly from her, bumping into the wall before screaming, "NO, DAMMIT! I'M A FREAKING GENIUS!"

We all laughed lightly before Axel spoke up, "Spell 'genius' then, smart one."

Tidus stared at him blankly, before nervously staring down at his shoes. "Uh. . . J. . ."

We couldn't stop ourselves from roaring in laughter. At that one moment, my mother stepped into the room, looking kind of nervous. She looked at Sora, and then looked at me, before excusing herself from the room once more. I felt a little curious at that point, but decided not to say anything. She was probably just making sure that Vanille was applying the right ointment.

I would later find out that I was horribly wrong, but that doesn't come until later.

I snapped my fingers, breaking the laughter, "I've got it! The perfect contradiction! _Nonexistent_."

They all stared at me, letting the name soak in.

Hope was the first one to respond, "You know, I think I like it. It's simple, and it is a contradiction. You know, since we _do_ exist."

Hayner nodded too, "Yeah. I think it has a nice ring to it."

Sora smiled at me, "I like it, too."

Tidus grinned before chuckling nervously, probably glad that we had moved on from the "genius" incident, "So it's settled! We have our band name!"

I smiled back at them, just as Vanille finished wrapping some Telfa around my burnt arm. She beamed at me before merrily pronouncing, "All done!"

* * *

After merrily thanking her, I led the rest of the group out of the room. I had expected Zack, Cloud, and my mom to be waiting outside in the hallway, but they weren't there. Noticing my confusion, Naminé lightly spoke up, "I think I saw them head to the hospital entrance through the glass in the door."

"Huh? Oh, thanks Naminé."

Hayner, Tidus, Hope, Sora, and Axel were animatedly conversing about something that had to do with the band, so I made some light small talk with Naminé. "So. . . How do you and Hope know Vanille?"

Naminé seemed kind of hesitant on giving me an answer, much to my confusion, but she eventually answered me, "She's just an old friend is all. She used to live in the same city as us. . ."

I looked at her curiously. Dang, they seemed to have a lot of childhood friends that _just so happened_ to move to Twilight Town. "I never got to ask you. . . Where did you move from anyway?"

The blonde girl beside me immediately went rigid at my words. I blinked, not understanding why, but before I could ask again, we had arrived at the entrance/exit of the hospital. The doors opened automatically, and I wasn't exactly expecting the sight before me.

My mom and Zack stood on opposite sides of the outdoor entrance, glares etched on both of their faces. Cloud was frowning, and looking between the two, but he didn't seem to be arguing with them.

"They're _my_ sons! Not yours! I can make whatever decisions I want with them!"

"Aerith, you're being ridiculous! You _know_ that they'd want to know! Why are you keeping this a secret from them! ?"

Hold on a second. . . Secrets?

My mother opened her mouth to retort, but closed it almost instantly. Her lip seemed to quiver as she noticed the rest of us standing there, and she immediately averted her gaze, before breaking out into sobs and running off. Zack looked pained as though he felt bad and wanted to chase after her, and he almost did until Cloud shot him a look and chased after my mom instead.

Slowly, Zack turned his head to look at us, "Uh. . . Hey guys. . . How much of that did you hear?"

It was silent until Sora spoke up, a glare on his face, "We came in a few seconds before you made our mom cry."

Zack frowned at him, and it looked like he wanted to say something, but had decided to say nothing instead.

Naminé, Hope, Sora and I hopped into Zack's car anyway (it's not like we really had a choice), while Axel said that he could get Demyx to pick the rest of them up.

The ride was long and awkward, so I decided to just turn back to my thoughts.

_Before we heard mom and Zack start yelling at each other. . . Did I really hear Naminé whisper, "Radiant Garden?"_

* * *

**A Wishful Thought:** Gah! This is really rushed, but I wanted to get it in ASAP. I ended up dumping a lot of things that I meant to dump in later chapters, so I hope it didn't seem too weird. O_O Anywho, let me know if you see any mistakes and such. (:

Next chapter, will probably be a school chapter, but I'll probably end up skipping around the more "boring" periods, so don't worry too much.

I'm sorry that I haven't responded to any reviews, my life is just hectic right now. O_O

But please _**review**_! They make me happy. :D


	11. Emotions and New Kids

**A Wishful Thought**: Hmm, I don't have much to say this time around. XD But I'd like to thank all the people that reviewed:

**KeybladeMaster97, CupcakeLerman, ryuHikari , shellbullet34, SiegLord, PoopsickleStick, and Redeeming Endeavor!**

You guys are absolutely awesome. (:

**Disclaimer:** Nopeeeee. Don't own Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _Emotions and New Kids_

"It was an absolutely normal morning in the refugee destination turned city, Twilight Town. The sun was beginning to rise and the birds were chirping. The grass was still wet with the fresh dew of dawn, and the wild flowers native to this wondrous land were bl-bl. . . . ACHOO!"

I couldn't take it anymore, and turned my attention away from the front of the theatre towards the evil friend of mine that got me stuck here in the first place. "Hayner, please remind me why I'm here. This is absolutely ridiculous."

The blonde boy next to me whose eyes were formerly transfixed on the stage turned to me, "Cuz I needed to talk to you. . . privately."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, that's nice. But two things. One, why did you force me to get to school _forty-five minutes_ early? Two, why is it that we've been sitting for _twenty minutes_ in complete silence? And three, _why_ did you have to drag me to auditions for the Winter Play to talk to me? !"

It was silent for a moment before Hayner responded. "Roxas, that was three things."

"I DON'T CARE! IT'S EARLY IN THE _FREAKING_ MORNING, AND I'M GRUMPY. WHY THE FU—"

"Mister Hikari!"

I hadn't realized that I was now standing out of my chair and that all eyes in the theatre were currently on me. Then again, that wasn't much. Everyone in the school knows that the Winter Play is _never_ good, only the Spring Play is. That was probably why the only people auditioning were Freshmen that hadn't gotten the memo. The drama instructor, this weird cat-like _thing_ with a giant megaphone, was currently glaring at me from his position at the very front of the stage.

You might think that _that's_ weird, but there's a whole _world _that's ruled by a freaking _mouse_. And that mouse is apparently their freaking _king_.

What has the world come to? Even I'm not sure.

"Sorry," I mumbled halfheartedly.

But since Hayner and I were sitting at the very back of the theatre, he (or perhaps, _it_) didn't seem to hear me. "What was that, Hikari! ?"

"I SAID SORRY!"

The drama instructor seemed to intensify its glare at me, before losing interest and yelling, "Next!"

I couldn't help but wonder: How did the drama teacher know my name again? I've never even _taken_ drama. Ever. In my life. I swear, if it somehow knows my mother too. . .

I sat back down in my chair, my arms crossed, and my mood as worse as ever.

This was stupid.

It was around six-thirty on a _Monday morning_, and I wasn't happy to be here. At all. My arm was still extremely sore from the pancake incident that occurred not too long ago, my brother seemed to be in some dark, lonely world all on his own, my favorite teacher, Zack, who just so happens to be BFFs with my mom got into this huge fight with her about some "secret" that she was refusing to tell my brother and I, and I didn't get any sleep last night. _At all._

But _NOOOO_. Hayner obsessively kept calling me at four in the morning until l finally got so annoyed that I picked it up.

And that was the mistake that got me stuck here.

"_You have to meet me at the Winter Play auditions a quarter after six! I need to talk to you, it's important!"_

Note to self: Hayner picks the _worst_ places (and times) to talk.

I shifted my eyes towards my longtime friend, angrily mumbling, "Okay, so what do you need to talk about? Wanna audition for the play or something?"

His eyes widened at the notion, and he whispered back, "Hell no. C'mon, Roxas. I thought you knew me!"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay then, Hayner. Then what's the big dealio? _Why_, did you force me to come here?"

"You came here of your own free will, Roxas."

"I was barely functional, and you told me to get my ass over here. If it's not forcing, then it's you taking advantage of me."

"Whatever you say, dude."

"W-Wait a second. You're avoiding my question. Answer the damn question!"

"HIKARI!"

I cursed under my breath before yelling a practically incomprehensible, "Sorry!" and slouching more and more into my seat. Somehow, Cait Sith (that's the name of the drama instructor/cat. It just hit me now.) managed to understand me, and shot me another warning glare before turning his attention back to the stage.

I was beginning to seriously wonder why Hayner dragged me here instead of meeting me at Starbucks or something. Was Starbucks even open this early? Panera Bread opened pretty early on the first day of school, but I don't think they usually do that. Maybe it was a special onetime thing or they ju—

Oh. I'm getting off-track. Sorry.

I turned my glare towards Hayner once more, hoping that it was somehow convincing the brown-eyed boy to hurry up and get to his point. To my surprise, Hayner had averted his gaze and had commenced twiddling his thumbs nervously. I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at him. What could he possibly have to tell me that was making him so nervous?

"I-It's about Olette."

I was Hayner. _Of course_ his troubles were about Olette.

I gestured for him to continue, and he hesitated a moment before he did. "It's just. . . I know that we're not _together_ or anything, but I mean. . . She always tells me everything, but ever since her Facebook status where she was desperately trying to talk to you. . . She's been acting all weird a-and distant and stuff." He looked away from his thumbs, and turned his brown eyes to me instead. It was like his eyes were sparkling with _worry_ or something, and I couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity for him. "I-I know that you always say that you don't. . . believe in love and all, but I didn't know who else I could talk to about it. All the guys would probably tease me, it's awkward to ask any of the girls, and whenever I need advice I turn to Olette. . ." He trailed off, before adding on an afterthought, "And I'd ask Pence, but he gives terrible advice when it comes to situations like this. No offense to him or anything."

In a way, I was touched. I guess it made me feel important knowing that when Hayner wasn't able to ask Olette for advice, was too scared to ask any of the guys because he knew they'd tease him, didn't want to awkwardly ask the girls, and knew that Pence would give him horrible advice, he'd come to me.

So wait a second. . . Technically I was the _only_ person who could talk to, and that didn't make me special?

Dammit.

Still, I had no idea what to say to the guy. Am I supposed to console him or something? Or do I just. . . Nod and pretend like I understand his dilemma?

He continued to talk as though to answer my inner thoughts, "I was just wondering if you could. . . Maybe find out what's bothering her, and help her out since. . . you know. . . I _can't_," Hayner spat out that last word as though it tasted sour, "Ever since that day when we all went to the mall, she's been acting funny. I just. . ." He trailed off again before shaking his head as though to rid him of the thought, "It seems like she only wants to talk to you about it anyway. So maybe. . ."

My longtime friend was obviously having some trouble here, so I halfheartedly nodded before patting his shoulder in what was supposed to be a reassuring way (I'm pretty sure it just came off as awkward though). "It's okay, Hayner. I think I get it. . . I'll do what I can."

He nodded curtly, before turning his attention to the stage. I desperately wanted to leave, but I felt that that would just be. . . I dunno, _weird_.

It was then that Hayner turned to me, the seriousness in his eyes gone, and a playful grin back on his face. "You know, the only reason I wanted to talk to you in the theatre was because I knew that none of our friends would even _want _to witness these auditions, and it would've be extremely awkward if we ran into them while I was telling you something that's top secret. Since I'm done telling you all that stuff, I say we hit up some place for breakfast. My treat for dragging you out here."

The words, "my treat," were like music to my ears, and I couldn't stop a large, Sora-like smile from appearing onto my face. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

When Hayner and I got back from the nearby Waffle House (it was a nice change to have waffles instead of pancakes), the whole school seemed to be in some kind of flurry. The noise from the mixture of students was louder than usual, and even our friends seemed to be excited about something. Well, most of them at least.

Kairi and Sora were awkwardly standing on opposite ends of the friend group, each of them deathly silent.

Xion, Riku, and Pence seemed to be talking about some test we had today. (I had _completely_ forgotten about it, so I was partially hoping that Hope had studied and was willing to lend me a hand) Olette was standing by them too, and at first it _looked _like she was talking with them, but she seemed to be stoically silent.

Naminé and Hope didn't look too happy, but I couldn't hear what they were talking about. Hope had a grim expression on his face, and Naminé seemed to have a mildly shocked one. With a sharp pang I remembered that she had been avoiding me ever since the incident at the hospital, talking to me as little as possible, and spending practically all of her time with Hope. I frowned, and immediately averted my gaze from her.

Okay, so to be honest, the only two in our entire friend group that seemed excited about something were Tidus and Selphie. In fact, the two seemed to be gushing over something. Even to the point where Tidus started _giggling_.

I gave Hayner a side glance to see if he was thinking what I was thinking, but the boy seemed to staring at Olette. I rolled my eyes at him, before elbowing him sharply. He yelped in surprise before glaring at me, and practically stomping over towards the two giggling Seniors. "Alright, what's up with you two?"

Tidus' eyes widened, making it obvious that the poor kid probably didn't think that people were noticing him giggling like a crazed fangirl on crack. He cleared his throat awkwardly as though to cover it up. Selphie however was still giggling crazily, and I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow at her. "Were you smoking pot again?"

The fact that this only made Selphie laugh _harder_ worried me. A lot. Especially since I was completely joking about the whole pot thing.

Finally done clearing his throat, Tidus took the liberty to puff his chest out (I'm not sure, but I think it was supposed to make him feel manlier) and answered Hayner's question from earlier. "You mean, you guys didn't see the new kids?"

Hayner rolled his eyes, "Uh, no. Roxas and I just got here."

"Oh."

Selphie decided to stop giggling long enough to throw in a squeal and a high-pitched remark, "Did you see that? Did you see that, Tidus! ? That new kid _totally _winked at me!"

It seemed like Tidus had completely forgotten all of his attempts at making us forget his girlish giggling, and ended up giggling again. "_Definitely_! And I'm _positive_ that that new girl was checking me out."

Selphie nodded eagerly, and took the liberty to grab Tidus' hands and start jumping up and down eagerly with him, "Yes, yes, yes!"

Hayner and I rolled our eyes in what felt like unison. "You guys are blowing this out of proportion."

The two looked offended for a second, but before they could retort, the school bell rang, and we were swept up in the many mobs that were now entering the school building.

* * *

First period was just extremely awkward. For several reasons in fact.

One: It seems like the drama between Zack and my mom had caught on to everyone else in their friend group, because Cid kept giving Sora and I this _look_. I'm not even sure what the look _said_. But Cid already terrified me enough, so this whole _look_ thing wasn't helping at all.

Two: Though I consider Hope and I pretty good friends now, I wasn't all too surprised when he kept glancing at me out of the corner of his eye almost nervously, and spoke to me as little as possible during our lab.

Three: Nobody could stop talking about the new kids. At all. And it was beginning to annoy me to no end.

"Oh, if I only they came at the beginning of the year like the others! Then they would've been able to at least _try_ to get into the upper-class. They were just forced into the middle-class without any say whatsoever!"

"Irvine would've _definitely_ made it into the upper-class. I heard that he finished top of his year at his old school!" Selphie squealed.

"Did you see that new girl Yuna? Dude, she's _definitely_ hot. So what if she has two different colored eyes! ? She _totally_ rocks the look." Tidus gushed, making it obvious that he was already smitten with this new girl.

Kairi (who was Selphie's lab partner) and Sora (who was Tidus') both looked like they would've strangled them if they weren't so busy acting all depressed.

I couldn't help but look at Hope. Currently, he was the one that was prodding the space rock under our microscope. The extent of our conversation today was:

"So. . . Is it alright if I look into it first?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

And so I'm not sure what possessed me to say it, but I'll admit that I definitely regretted it as soon as the words left my mouth, "So do you know the new kids? Are they childhood friends of yours too? I mean, it seems like _every_ new person we meet is." I even sounded _bitterly sarcastic _when I said that. Good golly, what was up with me?

Hope seemed kind of shocked at my claim, and looked at me awkwardly. "W-What? Well, I know Yuna, but I wouldn't say that we were childhood friends or anything. . . And you know, Rikku? The middle-class girl in your guitar class? Her and Yuna are cousins. Then there's—"

Wow. Seriously? Goodness.

I don't know what made me interrupt his explanation either with a question that I wasn't all too sure I knew the answer to, "Remind me where you're from again?"

Hope immediately went rigid, just as the bell rang.

Everyone pretty much darted out of the room, and I was right behind them. There was _no way_ that I wanted to be alone in a room with Cid.

* * *

Guitar was just an awkward class. Ever since the whole fiasco at the hospital, Zack and Cloud stopped conjoining the piano and guitar classes.

And this was a _huge_ bummer, especially since I desperately wanted to ask Zack what he had meant when it came to the secrets that my mom was apparently keeping from Sora and I. School was really the only place that I could ever get hold of him, but now he wasn't my teacher in _any _of my classes. My mother seemed to have broken off all ties with him, and even forced us to unfriend Zack on Facebook.

It was absolutely ridiculous.

All we were doing in guitar today was sifting through sheet music so that we could each select something to perform at the upcoming guitar concert. I half expected Cloud to obsessively give Sora and I the same look that Cid kept shooting us, but the blonde man seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

Sora and I were searching through the same pile silently. But not that awkward sort of silence. I was pretty much used to the fact that my brother didn't talk as much as he used to. Yes, it freaked me out, but I suppose you could say that I had come to terms with it.

So I wasn't really expecting it when the familiar tenor of his voice spoke up, "I heard what you said to Hope. . ."

I was in a bigger shock over the fact that Sora seemed to be willing to hold a conversation with me, than over his words. But you know. Then it hit me.

Immediately I felt my face turn a light shade of pink, "O-Oh. . . You heard that?"

Sora simply nodded. My brother's formerly bright eyes always seemed to be lifeless now whenever I looked into them. His complexion was beginning to pale, making the dark bags underneath his eyes extremely evident. But somewhere in there was the hyperactive twin brother that I grew up with. It wasn't long until a small smirk pasted itself onto his features.

The stupid Sora Smirk. If the circumstances were different, I'd be going ballistic. That smirk drives me _crazy_. But it was different this time, I suppose. I mean, it's so difficult to get him to display _any_ emotion on his face, so I guess you could say I was happy to see the familiar smirk. True, the smirk didn't reach his eyes at all, usually there would be a mischievous twinkle to match, but it was something, and that's what counts.

However, my happiness about this little occurrence was almost immediately washed away.

"I expected you to be jealous, but I didn't expect you to be so _mean_."

If I had been drinking something, this is where I'd spit it all out onto Sora's face.

"W-W-Whaaaaat! ? I managed to sputter out.

Sora was still smirking at me, and I'm not sure whether or not I was imagining things, but I _think_ that a little bit of the familiar twinkle was back in his eyes. I couldn't tell for sure though since he was bent over a different box, and his hair covered his eyes from view. "You heard me. You're jealous of Hope."

I felt my face heat up, and I quickly shook my head, "N-No way! I have no _reason_ to be jealous of Hope!"

Sora rolled his eyes, "Don't lie to yourself, dude. It's pretty obvious to me." When he caught my blank stare he let out a short chuckle. Some part of me felt like rejoicing over this small occurrence, but the larger part was freaking out over what Sora meant. Me? Jealous? _No way_. "C'mon, Roxie. Be a _little_ more mature at least. So what if you're jealous and lashed it all out on Hope? At least _admit_ it."

I couldn't help from shaking my head quickly again. "Y-You're just blabbering now, Sora. I'm not jealous of anyone!"

My brother merely shrugged, "I'm somewhat shocked too. This is one of the first times if I remember properly," he paused for a moment, giving me what I think was supposed to be one of those looks that said "I'm older than you, so you have to trust me," which I of course found absolutely ridiculous. "Nevertheless, I can see the signs, brother dearest."

I rolled my eyes, regaining some of my composure. "Whatever, Sora. If you think I'm so jealous, then what _reason_ do I have to be?"

I had pretty much seen the future in my head. Sora wasn't going to see that question coming, and he'd stop talking because he'd know that he _didn't_ have a reason. This whole thing was probably just to freak me out. Now that I had regained my full state of mind, I was made very obvious of this fact.

So of course, I wasn't expecting him to answer me immediately, not even stopping to think about it. "Because you feel like Hope's hogging Naminé from you, just when you and her were starting to become close."

If I was Sora, I would've spazzed out at this claim. But since I'm not, I simply turned to him with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. I had no idea how to respond to that.

I suppose I didn't have to either, since the bell rang. The smirk that had lingered on Sora's face was immediately wiped off, and after grabbing his things, he rushed out of the room without me.

* * *

French flew by quickly. It seemed like we were just relearning the language that we all knew pretty well. Calculus was just as boring too. But I guess you could say Calculus was awkward at the same time since I sat next to Hope. It was extremely out of the ordinary for me, but I couldn't stop replaying Sora's words in my head. I _think_ that I might've actually been taking them into consideration!

I know, I know. Shocking, right?

So I was pretty happy when it was time for Lunch. I definitely needed a reprieve.

I'll admit, it's no longer my favorite time of day on school days. In fact, Lunch usually ends up being extremely awkward. Ever since Sora and Kairi's big fight, deciding the seating arrangement at our table became so technical.

Before, we'd just sit wherever we felt like sitting. There wasn't a set arrangement or anything; it all just depended on who we were talking with before we entered the cafeteria. But the first few days after their fight, we realized that that _probably_ wasn't the best idea.

If Sora sat anywhere near me or Kairi, it would be nothing but an awkward, one-sided glare fest. And since Tidus and Riku were Sora's besties, they couldn't be anywhere near Selphie since she was Kairi's best friend, or else an argument would start. When Sora was still kind of angry at me, I couldn't be near him either. And since Hayner and Olette kind of felt bad for me (I'm starting to see that I'm the loser that doesn't have a "best" friend) they always kept me company since I couldn't exactly hang out with my brother as much anymore.

Dang. I'm closer to Sora than I previously thought.

Anyway, Hayner would often get into an argument or two with Tidus over the most ridiculous things, while Olette would be subject to Selphie's incessant ranting.

And I mean, it's not like we could separate Hope from Naminé at the time. We had just met the guy, so he was only really close to Naminé. And it felt wrong to separate the two, even though Tidus kept trying to persuade Hope to join Sora's "side" of the argument, and Selphie kept ranting to Naminé since she was Kairi's cousin and figured that she could.

And so, Olette, Xion, and Pence, decided to make a seating arrangement in an attempt to stop all the fighting.

As I mentioned before, we have picnic bench styled tables in our cafeteria. And since there were twelve of us, it meant that there would be six on each side. To my surprise, the three of them did a pretty good job arranging everything, and a majority of the fighting ceased.

On one row was (from left to right): Tidus, Pence, Hayner, me, Olette, and Xion.

The other row (from left to right) was: Sora, Riku, Hope, Naminé, Selphie, and Kairi.

We all had to admit (if not out loud, then to ourselves) that the best thing about the whole arrangement was that Kairi and Sora wouldn't have to look at each other. I know that that sounds terrible, but it's the truth.

So nowadays, our lunches aren't as amazing as they were back in our first three years of high school, but at least the fighting has stopped. Especially since the only two people fighting now are Sora and Kairi. I guess we're too lazy to rearrange the seating arrangements or whatever.

But when we got to lunch today, we were surprised to see that our beloved picnic bench styled table was gone, replaced by a strange, hexagon-shaped table that could only seat six.

Eyes wide, Tidus ran towards the location at which our table formerly resided. "Oh my God. . . Oh my God. . . WHERE IS IT! ?"

Selphie dashed towards him too, hyperventilating overdramatically. "B-But it was here on Friday!"

I found myself next to them, looking desperately for our familiar table.

But it was all in vain. For there was nothing but a large jumble of hexagons everywhere I looked.

An administrator that some part of me recognized as Miss Quistis Trepe was standing in the middle of the cafeteria, a microphone to her mouth. "I'm sorry for the confusion, students, but as you can see, we have gotten new tables for our cafeteria!"

Though some students erupted into cheers, our friend group remained eerily silent. I know, _shocking_. Miss Trepe continued to talk about how we got donations for the newer, nicer tables, but we all ignored her, and stared blankly at the hexagon-shaped table in front of us.

It only seated _six_.

It was silent for a moment before Selphie muttered, "Okay, I don't think this is working out."

Tidus nodded slowly, a frown on his face. "W-Well, whatever! Let's pull up some chairs."

We all gave him a look that told him that twelve people could _not_ fit comfortably in a table designed for six, but he didn't seem to accept this fact. The determined guy had already begun dragging chairs from a nearby table over towards ours.

When he was finished, he shot us a wide grin, and plopped down into one of the seats. Warily, we all moved to do the same.

And you know what? It actually wasn't that big of a deal. Sure, it wasn't comfortable (especially since I ended up squished between Pence and Riku), and I could tell that Xion and Olette were a little annoyed with the fact that they're well-thought-out seating chart had been abandoned without much thought, but they didn't complain either.

Unfortunately, it wasn't long until Miss Quistis caught sight of us. To be honest, I think that we wouldn't have been noticed if someone hadn't complained to her about all of the chairs at her table missing. But that's just my opinion.

She wasn't necessarily _angry_ when she strode towards us; she just seemed to be playing the part of the responsible adult. "You _do_ know that these tables are only made to seat _six_, right?"

It was silent for a moment before Tidus shrugged carelessly. "Yeah, I think so."

Miss Quistis merely raised an eyebrow at him, "Okay. . . And you do know that there's _twelve _of you sitting here, correct?"

I counted each of the individuals in my head before speaking up, "Yeah. If I'm counting correctly."

Hayner smirked as he added on his own personal comment to my statement. "Then again, you can't really trust his math, Miss Quistis. He _is_ Roxas, after all."

I rolled my eyes at him while some of the other members at the table erupted into small laughter. Miss Quistis on the other hand, did _not _look amused.

She had that same impassive expression on her face as she did when she came up to us earlier as she spoke, "Young man, Roxas is correct. I recommend that six of you move to another table, or I'll have to bring out the detention slips."

Don't get me wrong, it's not like we'd never gotten detentions before (Olette, Kairi, Naminé, Hope, and Pence being the only exceptions), but still. The threat of detention was hanging heavily over all of our heads. I mean _no one_ likes detention. I'm pretty sure it's a proven fact.

The thing is, none of us wanted to move either. We all knew that six of us _should_, but all of us seemed to be hoping that they specifically wouldn't have to.

And so all of us sat still.

Miss Quistis had already opened her mouth (probably to berate us for not moving), but Tidus had beat her to it, jumping on top of his chair, and pointing an accusing finger at her.

"WE'RE STARTING A REBELLION! WE'RE NOT MOVING UNTIL YOU GIVE US BACK THE BIGGER LUNCH TABLES!"

We all stared at him quizzically, and there was an unspoken agreement between all of us that Tidus was being a _little_ overdramatic with the whole lunch table thing.

Okay, apparently not _all_ of us, because Selphie had jumped out of her seat too. "Yeah! We want our table back!"

Miss Quistis only looked annoyed, "All you're really doing is standing on top of your chairs. I could always just give you detentions _now_, you know."

To none of our surprised, Tidus was unabashed, "Well, it doesn't matter! Cuz we have the Right to Petition!"

Selphie fistpumped the air enthusiastically, "YEAH!"

"And who said that?"

This was what caught both Tidus and Selphie off-guard. The two stumbled around their words a bit, making absolutely no sense as they did so.

With a sigh, Olette slowly rose out of her seat. It was obvious that she didn't really want to get involved, but perhaps she felt a rising sense of duty of some sort to defend her friends. "But you know. . . There's no formal writing that says we _don't_ have the Right to Petition. We're pretty much innocent of everything until you sue us in court and a jury finds us guilty. It's written in the law."

Tidus and Selphie grinned widely at Olette for helping them. "WHAT SHE SAID!"

"But this is a school cafeteria which _I'm_ technically in charge of. I have no intentions of _suing_ you, but I can still give you a referral for causing a disruptance."

Tidus and Selphie gave Olette an expectant look, but the green-eyed scholar merely shrugged. "She has a point."

While the two "rebels" had an expression on their face that combined terror, surprise, and sadness, Miss Quistis only smirked. "_Exactly_. So I suggest that six of you move _now._"

However, it seemed like Olette wasn't done talking, "_But_, as long as we petition peacefully _without_ causing a disruptance, you can't really do anything, now, can you? _Especially_ if we're no longer in the cafeteria." Miss Quistis blinked, obviously not expecting that. Olette gave a halfhearted shrug. "So you guys, I suggest that you grab as many people as you can, and follow me."

With that, Olette picked up her things, and casually brushed past Miss Quistis. Selphie and Tidus were enthusiastically following her as she neared the exit of the cafeteria, trying their best to bring as many random Seniors with them as they possibly could.

The nine of us that remained shared a quick glance at each other, immediately realizing that it would probably be best to follow our friends out. Whenever Miss Quistis awoke from her mild shock, _none of us_ wanted to suffer her wrath.

With that, we all jumped out of our seats, and dashed towards the exit.

* * *

I was _extremely _surprised when I realized that some people had _willingly_ followed us out of the cafeteria. Okay, so it was probably only a little less than a quarter of the entire Senior population, but it was definitely more than I had expected.

Olette had finally stopped in the school's courtyard/garden (people say that Principal Ansem actually helped grow a lot of the vegetation in said garden), and I began to look through the small crowd of people that had decided to follow us. And it was easy enough to pick out the familiar curly, red pig-tails.

"Hey, you guys! Long time no see!"

Oh, hey. Vanille's here. And she brought friends.

It didn't take long for all of us to find a seat on the ground to settle down at and to commence eating our lunch.

At first, it was awkwardly quiet. Though it seemed that some of Vanille's friends had come on their own accord, it also seemed that some of them weren't too happy to be eating lunch on the ground.

I munched on the simple sandwich that I had packed into my bag earlier, looking around at the others, and waiting for someone to talk. My eyes landed on Selphie and Tidus. The two were usually so talkative, so why were they not talking now?

Since they each seemed to be looking at the same thing, I followed their gazes.

Ah. So apparently the new students would be enjoying lunch with us today. Two of the new students (and remarkably, the two that Selphie and Tidus wouldn't shut up about) were walking with Hope, who seemed to have gotten up to go buy lunch with them.

I'm not entirely sure what was going through Tidus' mind (when am I ever?), but it seemed like Tidus didn't want the new kids to think we were quiet or something of the sort. He turned to Vanille and asked, "So what convinced you to join our rebellion?"

The curly-haired girl merely giggled, "Oh, so _that's_ what this is? I thought they were kicking you out of the cafeteria, and as your Fan Club President, I figured that you guys would want some company."

It was as if everyone had been waiting for someone else to talk before they did, because as soon as Vanille responded, everyone else burst into conversation.

Rikku was sitting next to Tidus, laughter exploding from her mouth. I faintly remembered that she was somewhat of a troublemaker last year, and that she and Tidus often had detention together. I'm going to be honest here: Rikku's hair has always amazed me. There are so many braids in her up-do, that it doesn't seem _real_.

And luckily for Tidus, the new girl he obsessed over (I think Yuna's her name) really _was_ related to Rikku (or they at least knew each other), because she sat on the other side of her cousin. So sure, it probably wasn't as close as Tidus had hoped for, but it was close enough for him. My longtime friend had an even bigger smile on his face, and red was already tinging his cheeks.

However, the new boy that Selphie's obsessing over (Irvine; She wouldn't stop talking about him the whole day) didn't have the freedom to pick where he wanted to sit. Selphie had jumped up and pulled him over to sit near her and Kairi before the poor kid had a chance.

Hope didn't really have one either. He was walking towards Naminé when Vanille casually locked her arm with his, and strode him towards where she had been sitting. Hope seemed alarmed, but I saw him shoot Naminé an apologetic smile.

Wait a second. . . _Naminé_.

I immediately turned my attention to the flaxen-haired girl. It wasn't like she was sitting far from everyone else or anything, but she didn't seem to be talking to anyone either. Before I knew it, I had already nudged Hayner and told him that I was going to go talk to her, and had already picked up my stuff and moved.

I wasn't entirely sure what to say when I got to my destination. Naminé seemed to be in her own little world, leaning against the trunk of a tree and eating her lunch. Not knowing what else to do, I awkwardly cleared my throat before asking, "Can I sit here?"

Naminé looked up, and I don't think she looked too glad to see me. But nevertheless, she nodded. I took my place next to her, leaning on the tree as well.

_Okay, Roxas. You wanted to talk to her, didn't you? At least _say_ something, genius._

I don't know why I do it. Honestly. But every time I end up trying to say something to Naminé when it's awkward like this, I end up just blurting out my mind. And usually, my mind is very abrupt and rude.

"Have you been ignoring me?"

I wasn't too happy with how that came out, but Naminé didn't seem to have a problem with it.

She sighed, turning her head towards me, "Oh, Roxas. I'm not ignoring you. . . Why would you think that?"

I frowned. She didn't sound very convincing. "I dunno. Ever since the whole fiasco at the hospital, it seems like you've been avoiding me." She didn't say anything, so I found myself continuing to blabber on, "A-And I was just curious, cuz you know. . . I didn't hear you well and stuff. . . But where did you say you were from again?"

_Radiant Garden. She said she was from Radiant Garden._

I felt my frown deepen as I processed this. _Radiant Garden. . . Where have I heard of that place before?_

"R-Roxas. Don't ask me that again."

I felt my eyes widen in surprise. Naminé wasn't looking at me anymore; she was now staring at the hands that were neatly folded in her lap. "W-What?"

She sighed, still avoiding my gaze. Her voice seemed quieter than usual, smaller. "I-I asked you to not ask me about where I'm from again. . ."

I was mildly surprised to feel my heart sink. I wanted to say something like, "Naminé, don't shut me out! I thought we were friends, remember? I can help you!"

But the words didn't come. Slowly, she brought up her head to me once more. She carefully stuck out her pinky as she spoke, "Promise?"

Though I had millions of thoughts swimming around in my head, I found myself smiling at her childish gesture. I interlocked her pinky with my own, "I don't know if I can say that."

Somehow, I think that she took these words as a joke of some sort, because she giggled lightly and smiled at me, before managing to awkwardly hug me from her sitting position. I felt a blush take over my cheeks as I awkwardly hugged her back.

_Why am I blushing? When Olette or Xion hug me, I never blush. . ._

Naminé pulled away and readjusted herself so that she was now leaning against my chest instead of the tree.

I felt my face redden, but she didn't seem to notice. She was back to eating her sandwich, and I faintly heard her begin to talk about the test we had next period in our English class. I found myself giving the occasional nod and chuckle, though I wasn't entirely paying attention to her.

I felt my heart beating heavily as I tried to process through all of my thoughts. And I had easily thought through most of them. Except one.

"_. . .You feel like Hope's hogging Naminé from you, just when you and her were starting to become close."_

I faintly recognized what Sora was trying to imply.

But it was _that_ thought that I just couldn't get over.

* * *

**A Wishful Thought:** Hey everyone! :D I'm sorry if the ending seems a little rushed. ^^;; I wrote up to their lunch yesterday, and then my friend calls me this morning to tell me, "Surprise! As a late birthday gift, we're all taking you to the Midnight Premiere of Harry Potter!" XD

So I just wanted to get this in before then, since I don't think I'll be able to get on again until around Saturday or Sunday.

I'm super excited! :D

I have a good amount of things to say about this chapter, so if you have the time, please stop by my Wordpress! (the link is on my Profile) I also have a poll up on my profile, and it would be nice if you guys could take the time to vote. (:

I'm pretty sure that there are some mistakes I missed while I was reading through this, so let me know if you spot any!

Next Time: The First Round of Battle of the Bands (I think that I should let you guys know that the whole band thing is something that's more on the side. XD).

Please _**REVIEW! **_:D


	12. Oh, It's ON!

**A Wishful Thought:** Time to update Nonexistent! X3

I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter:

**I'm Seriously To Lazy To Log In**, **KeybladeMaster97**, **CupcakeLerman**, **Sato Tadashi**, **overreactiveteenagemindsxo**, **Reflecting Knight**, and **Future X13**!

You guys are awesome! :D

**Disclaimer**: I _still_ don't own Kingdom Hearts, and I probably _never_ will. I also don't own "Emergency" by Paramore, or "The Great Escape," by Boys Like Girls.

**Notice:** I know that switching POVs might not be that great, but I felt that I had to do it once here. XD And for the singing, I'm trying to make it easier to tell when one or more person is singing and all that jazz.

**Bold**- Is when the main singer is singing  
_Italics-_ Is when the backup singer(s) is/are singing  
_**Bold Italics**_- Both

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _Oh, it's ON!_

If you asked me, I'd say that none of us should really be here.

Of course, none of my "friends" took the courtesy to ask me.

This was it. Our first performance as a so-called "band." And though we had rehearsed a decent number of times, I could easily say that we _still_ had no idea what the _hell_ we were going to do.

Sure, sure. It was no problem when it came to song choice. Axel gave us each a copy of some sheet music, and we all learned it pretty easily. Playing the song wasn't much of an issue either. Demyx came over every once in a while to give us tips on how to play better and how to sync ourselves. Costumes weren't a problem too, since Axel took the liberty to pick out our clothes since he said that it was part of his job as our "band manager." No, no. None of that was a problem.

Our problem was _Sora_.

. . . And Tidus.

. . . And Hayner.

. . . And Hope.

. . . Okay, fine. And _me_, too.

To put it simply: We were all too distracted to give a good performance.

Axel continuously told us that if we were going to give him the "Boy Band" look he was shooting for, we'd have to be overly-confident on stage, no matter what. According to him, it was our _image_ we had to worry about the most, not our music. His example was Justin Bieber, which sent Selphie (who had been invited by Tidus) ballistic.

Yeah, we played the song well, but apparently it was too robotic. Or as Axel kept shouting into his megaphone, "IT AIN'T GOT NO _SOUL_!"

Of course, it was easy to point our fingers to Sora, who (when we were able to convince him) would uncomfortably stand in front of a mic stand and mutter his lyrics. When we would all stop playing since we couldn't hear him, we could _still_ barely understand what he was saying. Sure, it was easy to tell that he was hitting a majority of his notes, but when I would come in on my back-up vocals, I easily overpowered his voice.

And _that_ obviously showed us that this wasn't working out.

So I wasn't _extremely _shocked when Tidus, Axel, Hope, and Hayner came up to me, an _hour _before we scheduled to perform, to ask me if it would be alright if I took vocals, while Sora played the guitar for me.

"C'mon, Roxas! Do it for the band!"

"Hayner, you're bein—"

"Roxie, you're all gonna look like idiots up there if you don't sing!"

"Okay, Axel. You know that I hate that nick—"

"I think that I have to say that I agree with Axel, shocking as it may be."

"You guys, stop interruptin—"

"We _have_ to do good! _Yuna_'s cheering me on! I _can't_ look stupid in front of her!"

Nice, Tidus.

"All of you, _shut up_," I yelled, flailing my arms angrily. To my surprise, they listened to me. "Okay, this _isn't_ going to work out. Do you guys really think that Sora will be able to learn my part on the guitar in less than an _hour_?"

There was more silence, until Hayner let out a string of curses.

"Dammit, we should've made the switch earlier!"

"Oh no, Yuna's gonna think I have no talent!"

"Dear Lord, we're going to look like idiots in front of a bunch of people. _Great_."

"I _told _you guys that this whole band thing was a horrible idea!"

In an attempt to calm us down, Axel spoke up, "Now, now, kiddies. There's only one thing left for us to do."

It didn't exactly calm any of us down, but it did catch our attention. Gradually, we stopped bickering with each other long enough to turn our attention towards Axel.

Though I had a strong feeling in my gut that told me that Axel was up to no good, I forced myself to ask, "And what would that be?"

As I expected, a devious smirk took place on Axel's features, "You'll know soon enough."

I felt a grimace make itself present on my features, "Oh, I'm sure I will."

* * *

You know that feeling you get when you do something, and you really regret it? Like, _really_ regret it?

Yeah, that's pretty much what I've been going through the past couple of days. . . weeks. . . Okay, _months._

Sora here. Yeah, it's me, I'm still alive. I suppose.

But does it matter? I don't _feel_ alive.

Wow, look at me! I'm acting all depressing! I personally thought that it was extremely difficult to act upset for such a long time, but I guess not.

I was standing in front of the mirror in one of the bathrooms (the ones made for single person usage, mind you) in the Orphanage, putting on the clothes that Axel had chosen for us to wear. Being the weirdo he was, he didn't let us see what he was making us all wear. That alone was enough to make me feel nervous.

I glanced down at the backpack that Axel had thrust at me that was apparently holding my "wardrobe." It couldn't be _that_ bad, right? Axel was trying to help us, so he wouldn't set us up. . . Right?

I could only hope.

With a sigh, I opened up the bag and took out a different bag that I could only assume carried the clothes. Once I opened up _that_ bag, I felt my eyebrow lift itself skeptically.

What. . . What in the world? . . .Or rather, "What in the World 2.0?"

Ahem. Excuse the horrible pun.

On top of the clothes in the bag, was a rather large business card reading, "Thank you for shopping at Bieber Fashion Industries Inc.! Let's support Justin through all his endeavors!" And then it hit me: Axel obviously bought us knock-off Justin Bieber outfits created by the superstar's very own fans.

He was actually serious when he said that we should strive to be something like Justin Bieber.

I let out a sigh, but stripped off my clothing anyways, genuinely not in the mood to strike up an argument. I honestly didn't have much of a problem with the clothes, but I knew that Hayner would have a _huge_ one once he found out that we were buying things from Justin Bieber fanatics.

I threw my former clothing (the pants, t-shirt, and even my shoes) onto the floor, telling myself I'd stuff it into the backpack when I finished dressing. I was just about to take out the jeans that Axel had got for me to wear, when something absolutely shocking happened.

The door to the bathroom opened, and a young man was tossed into the room.

I blinked in surprise, muttering a string of curses as I remembered that I had forgotten to lock the door. I turned to yell at the intruder for not even_ knocking_, but it seems that the guy had already beaten me to it.

"W-What the hell! ? Let me _out_, Axel! Stop being a freaking idiot!" I couldn't see his face since he was currently banging on the bathroom door that wouldn't seem to open, but I could see familiar spiky black hair protruding out of his head.

I glared at him with all the strength I could muster, "H-Hey!"

The young adult turned to look at me, and right afterwards, his eyes widened and he let out a _somewhat_ manly shriek, immediately pounding his fists harder on the door, "HOLY _SHIT_! AXEL, THERE'S A NAKED_ GUY _IN HERE! LET ME OUT!"

I furrowed my brows, as I glanced downward at myself, "I'm not _naked_, I'm still wearing my boxers!"

"I don't fucking _care_! Two dudes in a bathroom, one of them pretty much _naked_, and the other looking _this_ screwed up? People are going to think we had _sex_!"

"Then why don't you fix yourself up, and get out of my freaking bathroom! ?"

"Why don't _you_ put on some fucking clothes! ?"

I opened my mouth to retort, but quickly closed it realizing that the guy had a point. "Can't you just _leave_ so I can put on my clothes in peace?"

The young man sighed, turning an icy glare towards me that made my blood run cold, "I'd _love to_, but in case you haven't noticed, that goddamned idiot out there," he harshly pointed towards the closed door that he had previously been pounding, "won't let me out until I give _you_ some kind of stupid pep-talk, something that I have absolutely _no intention_ of doing. Now man up and put on some _fucking clothes_ so that when Axel finally lets us out of here, _I_ won't end up looking like I just raped you, _got it_?"

My eyes were wide as I struggled to find words, but none of them would come. And when I ended up saying something, I think that I just ended up making the whole situation worse, "H-HOLY SHIT, YOU'RE THE FREAKING MAFIA BOSS!" The guy gave me a look of confusion, but I had already grabbed my backpack and was holding it in front of me defensively, "I-I thought I killed you with that golf ball!"

The Mafia Boss stared at me like I was an idiot, but eventually I caught a tiny bit of recognition in his eyes.

So I was really confused when he banged his head against the door and yelled, "Goddammit, Axel! You locked me in a room with _this_ freaking idiot! ?"

At first I didn't notice the insult, because at the mention of Axel, I felt my fear (or at least, _some of it_) vanish. I dropped my backpack and ran towards the door myself, pounding on it as hard as I could, "A-Axel! I need the help of the Ninjas Next Door! The Mafia Boss is out to _rape_ me!"

The Mafia Boss turned to look at me with an expression on his face that mixed anger, frustration, and even exasperation. "Holy _shit_, you're _still_ naked! ? Put on some fucking clothes, dammit! And I don't want to _rape_ you, you asshat! I don't even want to _be_ here!"

"Then get out!"

"If you haven't noticed, _Axel's_ not letting me out!"

I blinked, "B-But why would he do that? You're his mortal nemesis that came back from the dea—WHOA. WHOA. HOLD THE PHONE, YOU CAN BRING YOURSELF BACK TO LIFE TOO! ?"

The Mafia Boss gave me a look that pretty much screamed, "I WANT TO MURDER YOUUU!" But he didn't have time to respond to me. Why? Because from the other side of the door, a somewhat familiar voice yelled, "VANITAS. Go with it!"

Vanitas (whom I could only assume was the name of the Mafia Boss) glared bloody murder at the door, "Hell no! I've degraded myself enough, and I'm not even getting _paid_ this time!"

I stared at him in confusion, "Paid? W-What?"

My black-haired look-alike simply ignored me, waiting for the response from his collaborator from the other side of the door. Quickly, a response was made, "C'mon, Van! Do it for your buddy!"

"The _fuck_! ? You're not my _'buddy_!' I only deal with you, because you usually _pay me_ to do so!"

There was a loud gasp from the other side of the door, "Why, Vannie! I can't believe you'd say such a thing! Think of all the good memories that we've shared together!"

Vanitas simply groaned, "You make it sound like we've known each other our whole lives, and like this is a big deal. _Maybe_, this would've been different if you hadn't SET YOUR RABID HIGH-SCHOOLERS ON ME!"

I heard another voice from the other side of the door that eerily reminded me of Hayner, "Aw, c'mon! I'd say we were pretty gentle!"

The "Mafia Boss" (I was seriously beginning to get confused here. Was he a Mafia Boss or not?) glowered at the door once more, "_Gentle_! ? You sprayed me with _pepper spray_, _wrestled_ _me _away from my post, _gagged_ _me_ with some _filthy, _old sock, and threw me into a bathroom with a _naked_ teenage idiot while screaming at me to give him some stupid pep-talk!"

A voice that reminded me of Roxas' spoke up, "I'd say that that's gentle compared to what they did to _me._ The idiots broke into my house, tackled me and captured me in a headlock, covered my mouth with duct tape and bound me with rope, stuffed me into a garbage bag, dragged me into my School Gym which they had _also_ broken into, and forced me to memorize a freaking _script_."

Everyone seemed to ponder this for a moment before a voice that sounded like Hope's spoke up, "Then again, you have to remember that we gagged Vanitas with _Tidus'_ sock."

There was a short silence until the Roxas-like voice responded with a simple, "Touché."

Vanitas rolled his eyes, "_Exactly_. I still have the horrible taste of _sweaty sock_ in my mouth thanks to _you guys_."

That was when someone that sounded like Tidus spoke, "Sheesh. I'm sorry that I hate doing my own laundry, _alright_?"

My look-alike merely groaned, letting his head fall against the door once more, "Just let me out of here. _Please_."

Sheesh, was my company really _that _bad?

That was when Axel's familiar tenor returned, "Sorry, Vannie! No, can do. Don't want to degrade your image by opening the door and having people think that you're a rapist. Just trying to look out for you, ya know?"

I swear, I saw smoke escape Vanitas' ears. He yelled a bunch of curses at the closed door before turning to me, "PUT ON SOME _DAMN _CLOTHES ALREADY!"

Eyes wide, I hesitantly turned to do so, but was stopped when I heard Axel's voice once more. "Sora! This is the leader of the Ninjas Next Door speaking!" I couldn't help but let out a gasp since Axel had obviously taken the trouble to sneak away and put on his Ninjas Next Door outfit without anyone noticing. "Do _not_ listen to Vanitas! It's a trap that'll brainwash you!" I let out another gasp, ignoring Vanitas as he facepalmed himself. "Trust me on this one, I have resurrected Vanitas myself using my ultra, super, ninja powers! He has mostly become a good guy, but he still holds a grudge against me, and if you put on your clothes before I tell you to, he'll turn evil again!" I let out another gasp as I turned to look at my look-alike with shock.

Vanitas groaned, "Axel's just telling you that so he can make me give you some stupid _pep-talk_!"

"DON'T LISTEN TO HIM, SORA!"

I hesitated for a moment, before firmly planting my butt onto the dirty, bathroom floor. Sure, it was extremely disgusting, but I was going to do everything in my power to stop Vanitas from turning into his former, evil, Mafia Boss self. I mean, no look-alike of mine should _ever_ be evil!

. . . And _maybe_ Axel would let me become a member of the Ninjas Next Door. _Maybe_.

Vanitas growled, before pounding on the door with more force, "AXEL! JUST LET ME OUT GODDAMMIT!"

To my slight confusion, Axel responded in a singsong voice, "Not until you give him that pep-talk!"

It was then that the whole "pep-talk" thing finally registered with me. A pep-talk about _what_? Why did I need _pep-talk_?

Inner conflict openly showed on Vanitas' face, but it seemed like he finally gave in. With an anguished sigh, he plopped down onto the floor next to me. "Alright, here we go. . . Sora, was it?"

I nodded hesitantly, now somewhat nervous as to what this former Mafia Boss would have to say.

"Axel is forcing me to give you a pep-talk about your. . . Uh. . . _Lady troubles_."

* * *

"Axel, can you tell me _why_ you insisted that we make _Vanitas_ give Sora a pep-talk about women?"

The pyromaniac who was now sitting at the base of the bathroom door, gave me a look. "Roxas, you may not believe this, but Vanitas has _vast _experience when it comes to the ladies."

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this, "Really?"

There was a short pause before Axel simply shrugged. "To hell if I know. I'm not that close to Vanitas, actually. I just thought that since they looked so alike, they had to click _somehow_, am I right?"

Wow. The logic of Axel never fails to amaze me.

Roxas here. Again.

Hayner, Hope, and Tidus had dispersed off into different directions to locate another open bathroom that they could change in. I had opted (read: _been forced_) to stay with Axel and wait for my brother and Vanitas to come out of the bathroom.

It honestly felt like _hours_ had passed, though I knew that that was impossible. If several hours had passed, then we would've already made it through our stupid performance. And according to my watch, we still had twenty minutes to go.

Even though we were inside the Orphanage, it was still easy to hear the music coming from the makeshift stage outside. There had been all types played: Rock, Punk, Pop, hell, someone even tried _Classical_. Of course, I wasn't sure if that band would end up making it to the next round, but whatever.

A high-pitched squeal interrupted me from my thoughts. And Axel looked somewhat surprised by the sound too. The two of us turned to look in the direction it had come from, and I think that I can safely say that we were kind of shocked.

"Hello! The Nonexistent Fan Club, at your service! Just thought that I'd bring in some of the members to personally wish you guys bad luck before you performed. The others are saving our front row seats!"

Vanille had _actually_ been serious.

The colorful girl was currently holding a large poster with our band name and faces on it, a large grin on her face. Behind her, I recognized some of her friends from school: Rikku, Penelo, and Krile, just to name a few. And goodness, Tidus hadn't lied. Yuna was standing next to Naminé, the two of them somehow managing to look both excited and nervous at the same time.

At the sight of the flaxen-haired girl, I felt my face heat up, and I immediately looked away from her. To be honest, I still wasn't too sure about her. I hadn't been able to think about it much, since I was so busy trying to pull something together with my "band." Still, once I got the music memorized, she served as one of my main distractions. . . Next to the whole situation with my mom and Zack, of course.

Vanille wore a large grin on her face, but it seemed to fade a little into confusion as she took in the sight of only Axel and I. "W-Where's everyone else?"

Axel simply shot her a grin, "They're getting dressed," at this explanation, the overjoyed smile returned to her face, "Did you bring the stuff I asked you to bring?"

"The makeup and cologne?"

"Yup."

Vanille's grin seemed to widen, and her eyes flickered to Yuna, who sheepishly held up a decently-sized cosmetic bag.

I felt my eyes bug out of my face as I turned to look at Axel in shock, "_Makeup! ?"_

The older man simply rolled his eyes, "Cool your balls, Rox. It's only stage make-up. Some foundation, a little bit of blush, maybe some mascara. . ."

I couldn't help but let the horror on my face grow as I turned my gaze towards the cosmetic bag in Yuna's arms.

At my expression, some of the girls actually _giggled_, making me realize that it would probably be _them_ that would be applying my make-up.

I silently prayed that they'd be merciful.

* * *

Time really _does_ fly, doesn't it? _Especially_ when you really _don't_ want it to.

Before I knew it, Sora and Vanitas had finally gotten Axel's permission to be released from the bathroom, me and the rest of the crew had changed into our stage outfits, Vanille and her friends (minus Naminé and Yuna) had applied our ridiculous stage make-up (to my surprise, it didn't even _look_ like we were wearing any make-up, which kind of defeated the whole purpose), and now we were waiting behind the makeshift stage for our turn to perform.

And I was nervous as _hell_.

A little less than ten minutes to show time, and I _still_ had no idea what I'd end up doing on stage. Or if Sora would actually sing _out_ for that matter. But something inside of me told me that he would. After his pep-talk with Vanitas, Sora strangely came out with slightly more confidence in himself, and the two looked like they could actually start a good friendship.

Haha, that's a _total_ lie. Sora was following Vanitas around like a lost puppy, and Vanitas still looked like he wanted to shoot himself.

"Ooh lala! You boys clean up nicely."

The members of the band (plus Axel, Vanitas, and Vanille and co.) and I turned to see Larxene as she strutted towards us, Xion, Olette, and Kairi not far behind.

I didn't even need to look at Hayner and Axel (and perhaps even Sora) to know that they had died a little on the inside.

The girls looked. . . Well, absolutely _nothing_ like they usually did. It took a while, but then it clicked that it _was _Halloween after all, which ended up explaining their outfits.

Not that I ever could. Each outfit seemed so unique, and there was such detail on their dresses and on their make-up. So I was lucky that Selphie took the liberty to explain each one of them personally, seeing our expressions. Of course, this process felt like it took_ ages_, so I think I'll try to translate it from Selphie's "LOLOLOLOLFASHION!" lingo, to modern-day English. Just for you guys.

Because I have no idea how to start since I'm absolutely _horrible_ when it comes to describing clothes, I'll just start out with the theme: "Gothic Lolita Zombies," as Selphie had called it.

Larxene was assigned the role of the "Graveyard Keeper," with a dark gray dress that reminded me of something that the Grim Reaper would wear, or something eerily reminiscent of those dementors from Harry Potter. However, she managed to pull off the look, and Axel had said, "Holy _shit,_ my girlfriend makes shapeless _rags _look sexy." Apparently, she was wearing slight makeup designed to too away her somewhat tan complexion, but it didn't make her as pale as the rest of their band.

Xion was wearing a short, dark blue, sleeveless dress with black lace over it. Selphie also described it as being "corset-like," though I'm not entirely sure what that means. She had a miniature black top hat that had a dark blue ribbon tied around it pinned to the side of her head, and _her_ make-up made her look extremely pale. "A mixture of eyeliner and dark eyeshadow" was used in the area around her eyes to give her a "death-like" look. Fake blood streamed from her shoulder down her arm, and according to Selphie, they used different shades of purple eyeshadow to make her legs look bruised.

Olette had abandoned her usual orange clothes for a dark green and black dress that was had short "puff sleeves" that ended in dark green lace. Though Xion's skirt flared out slightly, Olette's did much more so, and was slightly longer than Xion's skirt, ending just above her knees. A dark green "choker necklace" with black lace was around her neck, and her hair had been styled into voluminous curls. Like Xion, fake blood streamed from her shoulder, and down her arm. She had the same make-up around her eyes too. Fake scars were all over her legs, most of them looking long and bloody.

What shocked me the most was that Selphie wasn't wearing bright colors. _At all_. And that her dress seemed to be the most simple out of all the other girls. It was a dark brown shade, that tied in the back with a somewhat large ribbon, and around her neck in an X shape. Her skirt had slight ruffles and there was beige lace along her neckline. She had slight poof sleeves that were shorter than Olette's and only covered her shoulder. Like Olette and Xion, she was wearing make-up to make her seem deathly pale and to give her eyes that same "death-like" look she had mentioned earlier. Unlike them, blood coated her hands (namely her fingers), but seemed to travel upward up to her elbow messily. There seemed to be a large, bloody hole in the side of her neck, which Selpie admitted, "Was supposed to be a gunshot wound, but I figured I'd have to make it larger so that people in the audience wouldn't miss it."

Contrary to the dark colors that the other girls were wearing, Kairi was wearing a white dress. Like, _pure_ white. The dress had something that Selphie called, "Simple, yet beautiful." Like the others, her skirt had a sort of bell shaped to it, hers being layered two or three times. There was a large bow in the center on her boobs (well, I don't know how _else_ to describe it) and though Selphie said that the dress was ultimately sleeveless, two lacy straps that seemed to come out of her chest area rose towards her neck, where she wore a lacy white choker necklace. There was _more_ white lace along her neckline, and a spiked white tiara that seemed to hold a white rose inside adorned the side of her head. She had the same makeup as the rest of her band (though Selphie didn't mention whether or not they needed to apply makeup to make her look pale), but it was obvious that she was the most bloody. Staining the dress where her heart should be was a _hell_ of a lot of fake blood, and it dripped down the remains of her dress. There were ugly "scars" covering her arms, and Selphie had used eyeliner to draw on Kairi's face, making it look like her mouth had been stitched shut.

So, yes. Standing next to them made me feel _horribly_ underdressed.

There had been some sort of technical error with the stage equipment (something about fruit punch, I think), and Demyx (who was tonight's MC) explained that it would take about fifteen minutes to fix it all up. Hearing this, I had expected all the volunteers at the Orphanage (Terra, Aqua, Lightning and them) to be running around trying to fix it. So I was somewhat surprised when the three of them walked up to us.

Seeing them, Vanitas managed to escape from Sora's grasp, and stumbled towards Aqua, who shot him a confused expression. Terra shot Axel a look that I couldn't decipher and simply said, "The Organization wants you."

At this, Axel rose an eyebrow, "Why's that?"

Terra still had that look on his face, and I was beginning to think that he didn't really like Axel either. Sheesh, what had Axel done that was so bad to these guys? "Didn't you hear? There was an incident with all the stage equipment. The Organization is in charge of the equipment, and not us, so I suppose they'll need an extra hand to fix it up."

Axel muttered a few curses before nodding and stomping off; probably to go and find Demyx and yell at the poor guy.

Penelo, who had come in with Vanille, spoke up, "I think we should be going too! Don't wanna have to fight the crowd to get back to our seats later, and I think that they'll end up solving the problem in less than fifteen minutes." The girl turned to look at Vanille, but the bubbly "President" of our Fan Club seemed to be in deep conversation with Hope and Lightning. She then turned to look at Rikku, who I suppose was a Vice President of some sorts, but the skimpily dressed girl seemed to be laughing it up with Tidus, while Yuna simply smiled at them.

I couldn't see what she did next, because Sora bounded up to me, excitement present on his features, "Look what Vannie gave me! Look!"

My older twin was shoving his wrist into my face, obviously trying to show me something. Though I'd usually show him my annoyance, I was happy that he seemed happy, "Sora, stop moving. I can't see what it is if you keep waving your arm around like that."

He paused for a second, but stopped moving his arm, "_Riiiiight_."

I eyed his wrist for a few seconds, before eventual confusion escaped onto my features, "A. . . Rubber band?"

Sora nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! He told me that _physical_ conflict is easier to deal with than _internal_ conflict! So he said it should be easier for me to be myself when I'm having a _physical_ conflict over an _internal_ conflict!" I didn't like where this was going. _At all_. I nodded skeptically, and Sora took that as his cue to continue, "So anytime I think of. . . of. . ." My eyes widened in horror as Sora grabbed an end of the rubber band and stretched it out, before releasing it.

A loud SLAP! was heard as the rubber band made contact with my brother's skin. "I just hit myself with this rubber band, and eventually, everything'll be alright! Isn't that _awesome_! ?"

My eyes were still wide with a mixture of shock and terror as I stared at my brother, "N-No! That _isn't_ awesome! Sora, that's absolutely—"

"AND WE'RE BACK! Sorry for the delay, everyone, but this contest is back on track! Let's see, our next performance is—"

"Oh! Girls, we better head back out to our seats! Kairi, your band's performing next, right?"

Kairi, who had been talking about something with Naminé and Selphie smiled, "Y-Yeah! That's right."

Naminé blinked before grinning at her cousin and hugging her, happily shouting, "You'll do great!"

"And after you guys is Hope's band, right?"

Hope hesitantly nodded, "Yeah. . ."

"Ah! Hopie, you'll do _great_!" Vanille had embraced the poor guy tightly, and he looked like he could barely breathe. Naminé, who had been walking over towards Hope (probably to wish him good luck), paused, before beginning to walk towards me.

Instantly, my eyes widened, and I tried to hide myself behind Sora. This time, I couldn't help but be upset that Sora had picked _now_ to return to a majority of his happy-go-lucky self. My twin brother smirked at me, before grabbing me and pushing me off in Naminé's direction.

I stumbled forward, and the next thing I knew, the flaxen-haired girl and I were next to each other. "R-Roxas, you alright?"

I nodded slowly, "Y-Yeah, of course."

She gave me a wide smile, and I chastised myself for blushing. She didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary though, "Are you nervous?"

Still trying to avoid her gaze, I merely shrugged. There was a short pause, before Naminé poked me square in the chest, "Now, now. Don't go denying it! I think denial only makes everything worse!"

Her voice was playful, _teasing_ even, but her words only made my heart sink.

"_Be a__little__more mature at least. So what if you're jealous and lashed it all out on Hope? At least__admit__it."_

I shook away the memory of Sora's words, and forced myself to smile at her, managing to simply look at the top of her head. Hopefully she'd think that I was looking at her (as was the polite thing to do when you were in a conversation with someone) directly. I managed to see her lips twitch downwards for a second, but it was gone quickly, and I couldn't help but wonder if I had simply imagined it.

"Naminé! Let's _go_!"

The shorter girl blinked, before giving me another smile, and grabbing my hand. She squeezed it as she looked directly into my eyes, and I couldn't find it in myself to look away, "Hey. . . Don't be nervous, alright? You're gonna do great."

I opened my mouth to say something, but the words didn't come. She continued to stare at me, as though she was trying to figure something out, but ultimately, she dropped my hand. "See ya on stage, Roxas."

"Y-Yeah."

_Why is my heart. . . beating so fast?_ I glared at no one in particular as I clutched my chest, hoping that it would somehow make it stop. Of course, no such thing happened, and I could only sigh.

* * *

It wasn't long until Kairi's band was called up, and we followed them towards the exits of the stage so that we could get the best possible view of their performance. We wished them good luck as they walked out onto the stage, some of the guys in the audience wolf-whistling at their outfits.

It was around eight o'clock now. Since we had signed up so late compared to everyone else, we were scheduled to be around the last to perform. The stage was illuminated with light until a member of the Organization with strange, pink hair handed Kairi a microphone, and the rest of the band got their instruments ready. When that was settled, the lights flickered off, and silence echoed throughout the area, everyone patiently waiting the beginning of their song.

And then the song started.

The melody seemed almost haunting, and as each member of the band started to play, a spotlight would shine over them. Eventually, Larxene pounded on her drums, changing the melody from haunting to punk-rock, and illuminating the entire stage (minus where Kairi stood) with light. Larxene was obviously enjoying herself, already banging her head to the rhythm of her pounds, and Selphie and Xion were putting on a pretty good show too. Olette was more focused on making sure she didn't mess up, but she too was moving to the beat.

The lights flashed once, illuminating the stage, before dimming slightly. Kairi had finally been revealed, clutching the mic stand in front of her, her eyes closed as she started to sing.

"**I think we have an emergency. . .  
I think we have an emergency. . ."**

Kairi's violet eyes opened as Selphie and Xion joined her on backup vocals for about two lines, before Kairi was singing solo again.

"_**If you thought I'd leave then you were wrong  
'Cause I won't stop holding on. . .**_"

"**So you listening. . .?  
So are you watching me. . .?"**

Kairi was giving up a performance that was absolutely riveting, and the rest of her band was doing a good job when it came to backing her up. Xion and Selphie came in on backup once more, and I realized that they were switching between giving Kairi backup, and letting her have her limelight.

"_**If you thought I'd leave then you were wrong  
'Cause I won't stop holding on. . ."**_

"**This is an emergency. . .  
So are you listening. . .?"**

"_And I can't pretend that I don't see this!"_

"**But it's really not your fault,  
When no one cares to talk about it,  
To talk about it. . ."**

The beat picked up a bit, and Kairi used the moment to grab her mic from its stand and began to move around the stage accordingly, making the crowd go wild.

"'_**Cause I've seen love die, way too many times  
when it deserved to be alive. . .**__ (When it deserved to be alive)__**  
And I've seen you cry, way too many times  
When you deserve to be alive, alive. . ."**_

There was a quick instrumental, and I turned my grinning face to look at Sora, who looked shocked, and was repeatedly hitting himself with the rubber band Vanitas gave him. I didn't have time to stop him, because the singing started up again quickly.

"_**So you give up every change you get,  
just to feel new again!"**_

"**I think we have an emergency. . .  
I think we have an emergency. . . "**

"_**And you do your best to show me love,  
but you don't know what love is!"**_

"**So are you listening. . .?  
So are you watching me. . .?"**

"_And I can't pretend that I don't see this!"_

"**But it's really not your fault,  
When no one cares to talk about it,  
To talk about it. . ."**

"'_**Cause I've seen love die, way too many times  
when it deserved to be alive. . . (When it deserved to be alive)  
And I've seen you cry, way too many times  
When you deserve to be alive, alive. . ."**_

Since there was another short break, I looked out of the corner of my eye at Sora, who now seemed to be staring at his bright red wrist with a look of pain in his eyes. Of course, Kairi started singing again, this time without the accompaniment of Selphie and Xion's voices.

"_**These scars will not. . . Fade away. . .**_"

There was another, slightly longer intermission and Kairi seemed to simply be humming or audiating along, now paused in the middle of the stage, eyes closed, and giving it her all. She was still doing that when Xion and Selphie sang a single line together,

"_No one cares to talk about it. . . To talk about it!"_

Larxene pointedly hit the drums, and Kairi turned her back to the audience for a moment, long enough to shoot a sad smile at Sora, though her eyes were now sparkling with excitement. The moment was over quickly though, because she turned around again, now singing directly to the audience, which were gladly eating up their performance.

"'_**Cause I've seen love die, way too many times  
when it deserved to be alive! **__(When it deserved to be alive)__**  
And I've seen you cry, way too many times  
When you deserve to be alive. . . **_**alive**_**. . ."**_

The band let out a few more notes, before ending in perfect synchronization, the audience going wild and the rest of us backstage cheering crazily as well. Minus Sora, who now seemed deep in thought.

"You guys were amazing!"

The rest of us yelled in agreement with Tidus' statement, before Larxene smirked at us and simply said, "Hope you can top _that_."

As though we were all thinking the same thing, we all shot a nervous look at Sora, who had returned to hitting himself with a rubber band.

Hayner groaned, "We're _doomed_."

* * *

We were given a five minute break before we were about to go on. Sora had left for the bathroom to do who knows _what_, and the rest of us could do nothing but panic. I mean, how were we supposed to upstage _that_?

Of course, we weren't able to get very far in our discussion, because before we knew it, we were being called to the stage.

"Some band manager Axel is. He's nowhere in sight, and neither is our lead singer! Roxas can't you just play guitar _and_ sing?"

I rolled my eyes, "Tidus, I only know the _harmonies_ to most of the actual song."

"_Nonexistent, to the stage. I repeat, Nonexistent, to the stage._"

Hayner cursed under his breath, while Hope let out a somewhat worried, "Where's Sora?"

And that's when my brother came out of nowhere, a determined expression on his face as he threw his arms around Hope and I, "Right here. Now c'mon, we have some butt to kick."

We shot him skeptical smiles, but for the first time in a long time, Sora's smile looked genuine.

Before we knew it, we were on stage, the lights were off, and the crowd was patiently waiting to hear us play.

It was difficult to see my band members, but we all managed to share an encouraging smile before we began to play. The melody was a familiar one, something that I'd heard on the radio before Axel told us to learn it, and so I was pretty sure that others would recognize it too.

Based on the cheers from the crowd (and not just Vanille and our "fan club!"), I guessed that they did.

As soon as Tidus hit his drums, the stage was illuminated with light. For a second my heart stopped as I realized how _big_ the crowd looked. But I forced myself to shake away the thought, and resorted to closing my eyes and focus on the music.

Sora's entrance was coming up soon, and I could only hope that he'd sing out.

"**Paper bags and plastic hearts,  
All our belongings in shopping carts,"**

I opened my eyes in gleeful surprise as I realized that Sora was _actually_ trying this time around, and a quick glance at the rest of my bandmates showed that they were just as surprised and happy as I was.

"_**It's goodbye,  
but we got one more night.  
Let's get drunk and ride around,  
And make peace with an empty town."**_

"**We can make it right. . ."**

I grinned as I watched my brother prance around the stage, the rest of us finding some spark of focus and confidence to move around like he did. Knowing that our "duet" together was coming up, Sora ran towards me, and we sang (well, I played too) back-to-back.

"_Throw it away!_  
**Forget yesterday!**  
_**We'll make the great escape,  
We won't hear a word they say,  
**__They don't know us anyway. . ._  
**Watch it burn,**  
_Let it die,  
__**'Cause we are finally free!  
**_**Tonight. . ."**

I smiled widely at him as he began to walk towards center-stage again, touching the hands of the girls in the front row. So mainly just touching Vanille and her friends' hands, but I suppose there were some strangers in their midst as well.

"**Tonight will change our lives,  
It's so good to be by your side.  
**_**But we'll cry**_  
_**We won't give up the fight."**_

"**We'll scream loud at the top of our lungs,  
And they'll think it's just 'cause we're young.  
**_**And we'll feel so alive. . ."**_

"_Throw it away!  
_**Forget yesterday!**  
_**We'll make the great escape,  
We won't hear a word they say,  
**__They don't know us anyway. . .  
_**Watch it burn,  
**_Let it die_,  
_**'Cause we are finally free!  
**_**Tonight. . ."**

The crowd was cheering loudly now, and looking at Tidus, Hope, and Hayner, they were enjoying themselves as much as I was. But it was _Sora_ that was stealing the show with his newly found energy. As my twin bounded around the stage working the crowd, the four of us playing the instruments managed to share a quick smile before returning our focus onto our instruments.

Sora could worry about his weird, Kairi troubles later.

Tidus could swoon about Yuna some other time.

Hayner could worry about Olette afterwards.

I could think about Naminé, my mom and Zack, and Sora's strange fascination with hurting himself with rubber bands later. . . _maybe_.

And Hope? Well, the kid was always the more focused out of all of us anyway.

* * *

**A Wishful Thought:** _Wow_. This was kind of a disappointing chapter, wasn't it? XD Not much Namixas in this one. O_O But we have a. . . one-sided bromance between Sora and Vanitas blooming! XD

I don't think I'll ever have a whole chapter about their whole band competition again. XP It's such a pain describing the music. But I'll admit it was a fun distraction trying to find dresses online to base Kairi's bands outfits on! XD Speaking of which, I have yet to name her band. XP Oh, scratch that. There's one other time that I'll have to return to the competition, but I think that for every other round, I'll just mention what they did. That alright with all of you? XP

**Next time,** I hope to go more in depth with the whole drama aspect of the story, hoping to address most of Sora and Roxas' problems. Sorry, Hayner, but your Olette troubles shall be answered some other time. XP

I'm also leaving for Vancouver in less than two weeks, so I'll try to update before then! :D

I have a rather lengthy Chapter Drabble on my blog, and you can find the link to that on my profile. The dresses that I had based Kairi's Band's dresses off of are on there. If I could draw, I'd show you my designs for them, but unfortunately I can't. XD

Please _**REVIEW!**__**  
**_


	13. Just A Bit Of Bromance

**A Wishful Thought:** Oh man, my life has been hectic lately! D:

For anyone who was curious, Canada is FREAKING AWESOME. :'D You gotta love British Columbia. (:

And then three days later, school came along. -_-

After a torturous first three days where my schedule was ruined with a huge mishap (on the morning of the first day of school, they decided to change FOUR of my seven classes on me), I finally got it back in order. It goes:

1-Culinary Arts 1  
2-Algebra 2 Honors  
3-AP Human Geography  
4-English 1 Honors  
5-Spanish 1  
6-AP Biology  
7-Early Childhood 1

And I'm a Freshmen. XD

So when you're wondering why it's taking me forever to update, just imagine me burning water, trying to figure out how to write out those stupid AP Free Response Questions, speaking Spanish with a horrible American accent, cramming for the Biology quizzes/homework/tests/idontevenknow that I seem to get every two days, and trying to draw maps but failing horribly. XP

What's even worse is that I barely have any time to read all the updated fanfiction! D: I basically only have the thirty minute bus ride to and from school. -_-

And I know that I've said this a lot, but if you're ever wondering where I am, or if you want some extras for chapters (and occasionally, previews!) stop by my wordpress. Link is on my profile! (:

ANYWHO, I'd like to thank my reviewers for last chapter:

**CupcakeLerman**, **ryuHikari**, **KeybladeMaster97**, **sajere1**, **Reflecting Knight**, **Sato Tadashi**, and **Future X13.**

You guys are my inspiration to write! :'D  
Of course, I'd also like to thank all the people that added a story alert, or favorited this story. It really does mean a lot!

So now, here we go. ;D

**Just a Note:** I haven't had much Naminé in a while, haven't I? XD Well, she doesn't exactly appear in this chapter, but she's one of the main focuses of it. But rest assured, after this chapter, I'm going to say that she will DEFINITELY be featured more. XP

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _Just A Bit Of Bromance_

"R-Roxas?"

I inwardly groaned as I was roused from my sleep. Not necessarily _completely_ roused, but just enough so that I was lingering in that in-between state. While only half-conscious, I managed to let out a practically incomprehensible, "Whaaat?"

"I _looooooove_ you," came the mumbled reply as masculine arms suddenly snaked around my waist, pulling me closer towards what I could barely register as another separate being. The invader of my bed nuzzled her (. . . or maybe _his_?) face into my back, letting out a content sigh.

The creepiness of that hadn't set in yet.

But almost immediately, it _did_.

So like a normal person, I bolted out of bed, screamed like a banshee, and repeatedly hit the invader of my bed with a pillow.

. . . Don't judge, you know you would've done it too.

I was still screaming my head off, but the intruder _still_ hadn't gotten out of bed. I couldn't even see their face, since they had decided to cover it with a pillow! But trying to take the closer look to see his face only made me freak out even _more_. Why was this guy (yes, it was a _guy_) half _naked! ?_ Eyes wide, I turned my gaze downward to stare at my chest.

Why was _I_ half naked_! ?_

It took me a while to register that I _sleep_ half naked.

Still, the fact that there was a half naked guy in my bed did _not_ make me feel comfortable. Hesitantly, I tiptoed over to where my phone was to check the time.

_9:28 AM_

It was the day after Thanksgiving, (oh man, that was a HELL of a lot of awkward. But I'll get to that later) and Sora and I were still on Thanksgiving Break. Mom was probably out too, shopping at the Black Friday Sale at the Moogle Mall like every other girl I know and Riku.

What can I say? The guy has a _really_ good sense of fashion.

Anyway, that all meant that I was alone. In my house. With a half naked guy in my bed for no apparent reason.

I forced myself to take a deep breath and actually _touch_ the invader. I quickly withdrew my hand, but the guy _still_ didn't wake up.

And so, I crawled back onto my bed, gulped, and pushed the guy off. As soon as I heard the instantaneous thud, I pulled my quilt over me, leaving a somewhat large gap so that I could still see my intruder once he got up.

I'll be honest though. I was _totally_ expecting it to be Axel. I mean, he's just the creepy kind of guy that would do that! But the thing is, it _wasn't_.

After the thud came a loud gasp for air, an even louder shriek, and then the sound of a rubber band slapping against skin.

Ohhh. . . Haha, it was just Sora.

I immediately relaxed after that, though I was still curious as to why my brother had crawled into bed with me. I mean, we hadn't slept with each other since we were like. . . seven!

And to the perverts out there: NO. Not _that_ kind of sleeping with each other. Goodness gracious.

"S-Sora? What the _hell_ are you doing in my bed?"

Sora blinked and looked around curiously before mumbling, "Well, I'm not in your bed any_more._"I rolled my eyes and threw the quilt off of me. Tiredly, my brother stood up and fell onto my cushiony bed face first, grabbing the quilt and snuggling into it. "Now am I. So ask away."

I rolled my eyes for a second time before repeating myself, "What the hell are you doing in my bed?"

My older twin seemed to ponder this for a moment, before screaming, "T-THERE'S A COCKROACH IN MY ROOM!"

I gave him a curious look, "Well that doesn't answer my question. What are you—"

At this point, Sora was fully awake, and had sat up in my bed to give me one of his scared expressions. "NO. Roxas, you don't _get it_. There's a _cockroach_ in my _room_." Still seeing my puzzled stare, he threw his hands up into the air while letting out an exasperated sigh. "I _hate_ cockroaches!"

I felt my lips shape themselves into a round o, "Alright," I said slowly, trying to figure out what to say to him, "Well, why didn't you kill it?"

My brother stared at me as though I had fifty heads. "I didn't want to _touch_ it!"

"Well. . . Why not?" My brother was still giving me that "Oh my God, you're such an idiot!" look, so I sighed and forced myself to say, "Where is it?"

Immediately, my brother's face contorted into one full of thanks. "On one of the shelves in my bedroom. The one across my bed."

I nodded, before beginning to make my way towards the door. Before I opened it though, I turned back to look at him, "You're coming too."

He gave me his puppy dog face, but I automatically shot it down with a glare. We had a staring contest for a few seconds, before Sora broke it off with a huff. Slowly, he got to his feet and followed me, my quilt dragging on the floor.

Once I opened the door to his room, he immediately jumped behind me as though I would shield him from the horror that was the freaking _cockroach_.

I still didn't understand why this was such a big deal to him.

But I still wanted to be a good brother, so slowly, I advanced towards the bookshelf in his room. If I'm being honest here though, I didn't even _need_ to get that close. I could see the bug he was talking about (I was shocked that it actually _stayed_ there) from the doorway, and that thing was freaking _huge_.

It was even making _me_ a little squeamish.

Forcing away my shivers of disgust, I forced myself to get as close to the bookshelf as I could so I could get a better look at it. And to my surprise, I found the _real_ reason it had stayed put.

"Sora, why did you leave _chewed bubble gum_ on your bookshelf?"

My brother merely shrugged, "I dunno."

I rolled my eyes, "Well, the stupid cockroach is stuck in it now."

My brother's eyes practically popped out of his head, "EW! Roxas, that's disgusting! Hurry up and kill it and get it out of my room!"

I frowned at him, surprised that he wasn't taking any pity on the poor creature. Sure, it was absolutely gross and disgusting, but did it really deserve to _die_? "C'mon, Sora. I think that the thing's miserable enough. Just let it. . . starve to death or something."

Sora gave me an incredulous look, "You pick _now_ to start fighting for animal rights_! ?_"

I simply chuckled, "I guess so." My twin's gaze shifted from the hideous creature to me, and eventually he dropped the quilt and stomped off in a different direction. Eyes wide, I slowly trailed after my brother. "Sora? Where are you going?"

"To get that spray that kills the co—HOLY SHIT!"

My eyes furrowed in confusion, and I hurried my steps to catch up to Sora. Once I got there, my own face contorted into one of disgust, _identically_ matching my brother's face.

The stupid bug spray that was supposed to _kill_ the cockroaches was being _swarmed_ by cockroaches.

My poor brother actually whimpered when he saw this before sullenly walking back into our house. "I guess I'm never going to be able to go into my room ever again."

"Or our garage."

Sora's whining only got louder.

* * *

Because of this whole cockroach incident, my brother seemed absolutely _traumatized_. And I mean _really _traumatized. He wouldn't stop flicking himself with that stupid rubber band.

The two of us were now sitting in the living room watching cartoons. I had moved the coffee table that used to be in the center of the room to the side, so that I could comfortably watch TV from the floor since Sora was occupying all the space on the couch. I wasn't that interested in the cartoons (I mean, they got rid of all the _good_ ones), and I could tell that Sora wasn't that amused either, since he kept flicking himself with the rubber band.

I bet it was all crusty and disgusting with his blood at this point.

"Do we have any leftover turkey, Roxas? I'm hungry."

I glanced upwards at my brother, who looked absolutely tired. Sure, after his whole discussion with Vanitas, he got a lot better and wasn't as emo. But _now_, he had these weird _moods_ (much like a pregnant, bipolar woman) where he'd be all emo again because he was thinking too much, and all he'd do was _eat_.

So yeah, it must've been one of those moments.

I simply nodded at him, "Yeah. . . It was only three of us last night, remember?"

There was a pause, "Oh yeah. . ."

Insert another stupid rubber band slap here.

Slowly, my brother got out from his seat on the couch, and walked towards the kitchen, leaving me alone in the room. My nails were already digging into my skin because of the balled up fists they had formed.

Enough was enough. Seriously, Sora was going to end up killing himself if he kept flicking himself with that rubber band.

Okay, maybe not. But it's _not _healthy!

I let out a breath that I hadn't even realized I had been holding. _Roxas, you have to let him heal in his own way. No matter how. . . _weird_ and _unhealthy_ and. . ._

SNAP!

"Sora, will you just _stop _it_! ?_"

I hadn't even realized that I had jumped out of my seat on the floor to stare at my brother until a few seconds after it happened. Sora had just took the leftover turkey out of the refrigerator, and was staring at me in awe.

He recovered pretty quickly though, "Stop _what_?"

My fists only balled up tighter as I struggled to keep myself from lashing out at him, "Stop hurting yourself with that stupid rubber band."

His expression was blank as he stared at me. There was no offense evident on his face, and there was no anger on it either. "No. It helps me. If it bothers you so much, then just ignore it."

And as if to prove it to both of us that he didn't care at all, he had the _audacity_ to actually hurt himself with the rubber band again.

So yes, that's when I exploded.

I marched right over to him, and grabbed his arm, holding it high enough so that it was eye-level with both of us. His arm was bright red and ugly looking. Thin scars where the rubber band actually _cut into his skin_ were evident, _especially_ on his pale skin. "You want me to _ignore _this_! ?_ You want me to ignore the fact that my brother, my _best_ _friend_ is _hurting himself_ like this_! ?_" He remained silent, but his eyes had an unreadable expression in them. "I don't understand why you're turning to something stupid like _this_ to solve your problems! Sora, you shouldn't have to rely on something _stupid_ like that!"

Before I could say something else, he cut me off. His voice wasn't angry or anything, and it was actually surprisingly calm sounding, "Then what do you want me to do?"

And that's when the desperation set in. I don't know if it's because of the fact that I'm the younger twin, or because of the fact that I'm the more responsible one. But at that point in time, I just felt so _helpless_. I didn't know. I didn't know anymore, and I was just so _confused._ And so, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "_Talk to me_," I myself could hear the desperation in my voice, but I still hoped that Sora couldn't, "I-I'm your twin, Sora. We're supposed to look out for each other! And I can't. . . I don't know what to do when you hurt yourself like that. It's stupid, Sora! It. . . It makes me feel scared!"

At the mention of the word, Sora seemed surprised, almost skeptical, "Scared. . .?"

I nodded, "Yes! I'm worried about you! Those scars on your arm. . . Do you really think that all of them will heal? You're making yourself _bleed_, Sora! It's just. . . I. . ." I found myself choking on the words that were tumbling out of my mouth. I was surprised to realize that I sounded _hysteric_.

But I think that it was the fact that I was freaking out that made Sora come to his senses.

In a single movement, Sora pulled off the rubber band, through it in some random direction, and hugged me.

Not one of the homosexual kinds of hugs (incest ain't good, kiddies). It was one of those hugs that only an older sibling can give you. The kind that makes all the worries go away, just for that second. The one that makes you feel like everything will be alright.

"I'm sorry for worrying you then, Roxas. . ."

I only responded by hugging him tighter.

* * *

Needless to say, it was extremely awkward after that. The two of us were eating our turkey (with mashed potatoes and corn of course) silently, neither of us knowing how to form the first sentence after our dramatic kind of fiasco.

But I mean, at least Sora was trying. "Dinner last night was _horrible_."

With that single sentence, the uncomfortable air surrounding the two of us seemed to dissolve. "Dude. Tell me about it."

Oh, that's right. I forgot to tell _you_ about it.

Well you see, every Thanksgiving, Zack, Cloud, Tifa, and Cid come over to our place for dinner. Before we'd eat, we'd all do that cheesy thing where you state something that you're thankful for. (Zack and Cid always said the funniest stuff during those times) And after we all finished and helped out with the cleaning, we'd all play these cheesy kind of family games. You know, Monopoly, Apples to Apples, Twister, and other kiddy games like that. I know it sounds kind of weird since a lot of kids our age hate playing games with their families. But Sora and I? We _love_ it. Next to Christmas, it's our favorite holiday.

But as you can guess, Zack, Cloud, Tifa and Cid didn't come over to our place on Thanksgiving.

They didn't even bother to call us and at least _wish us_ happy Thanksgiving! I mean, they do have our numbers after all.

I just realized how creepy it is that some of my teachers have my cell phone number.

Anyway, mom _tried_ to act like not having them around was normal, which just made it even _more_ awkward. It felt _way_ too serious when we were all sharing what we were thankful for now that Zack and Cid weren't joking around about it. So to make up for the lack of that, mom tried to crack a few jokes during dinner, but they came out too forced and kind of lame. And since we didn't want to be rude (_especially_ since she's our mom), Sora and I had to force ourselves to laugh.

But playing the games was the worst part.

It just _wasn't_ the same without Zack, Cloud, Tifa and Cid.

Zack and Sora would always get super competitive about everything, and Sora would always pull Cloud into the fray, insisting that Cloud had to do it too. Tifa always laughed at Cloud for being so unenthusiastic, and the two of us teamed up to tease him, my mom occasionally joining in. But my mom mostly teamed up with Cloud to tease Zack. They'd always bring up the fact that back when they were in the army, everyone called Zack "the Puppy" since he was so energetic. And when it was brought up, Zack would randomly act like a dog, complete with the random barking.

Cid on the other hand, would make fun of all of us for actually _playing_ games like this. But he was just being extremely hypocritical, because he played the games with us, and you could _totally_ tell that he was having fun too.

And so when my mom brought out the board games for us to play, Sora and I _literally_ felt like killing ourselves just to get away from the horrible situation.

I'll admit that I felt bad about that though. Because she _tried_. And it was so _obvious_ that she was trying _so hard_ to keep the fun rolling!

But without everyone else, it's just not the same.

Sora sighed sadly, "Holidays just aren't holidays without the rest of them. When they're not here, it feels like part of our family is missing." When he finished speaking, he looked up from his plate towards me, and there was something in his eyes that just told me what he was thinking. (I swear, it's NOT twin telepathy!)

_I mean, part of our family is _already _missing without Dad here._

The words made a pang of sadness spread throughout me, and so I looked away from my brother. "Yeah. . . I wish that mom and Zack would hurry up and make up already."

To my surprise, Sora was actually shaking his head, "I don't think so. . . I mean, Mom's right. Whatever it is that's the issue, if she doesn't want to tell us, then she doesn't want to tell us. Zack doesn't have to tell her what to do and what not to do. And I mean, she's our _mom_. I'm sure that she'll know if we should know something."

I felt my brows furrow, "I don't know, Sora. . ."

My brother simply shrugged, "I don't want to stress over it. The only thing that's pissing me off though, is the fact that mom won't even let us _speak_ to Zack. It's stupid. Does she really think that he'll tell us whatever it is _against_ her strict will not to? I mean, come on, Zack does whatever mom says. . . most of the time."

I nodded, deciding to believe my brother, swallowing a piece of turkey that I had stuffed into my mouth. "I know what you mean."

To my surprise, Sora actually frowned and rolled his eyes at me. "Man, Roxas. You're not fun to talk to at _all_. You really don't say much, do you?" Noticing the surprised expression on my face, he chuckled. "I mean, seriously. How am I supposed to share my problems with you when you can't even hold up your end of a conversation?" I knew that he wasn't actually angry or anything because of his teasing expression.

I frowned angrily, "Well what do you _want_ me to say?"

Sora merely shrugged, making it obvious that he didn't really know.

My eyes still slightly narrowed, I recommenced eating my food.

But I was still able to see Sora's stupid smirk from the corner of my eye.

Before I could say anything about it though, he spoke, "Since _you_ aren't gonna be interesting, I guess that leaves _me_ to be interesting!" My expression immediately morphed into one of curiosity. What was he talking about? "How's _Namineeeee_?"

For lack of a better description, his face looked _exactly_ like this: ;D

No joke.

Immediately, I felt my face turn a bright shade of red, the glare returning to my face almost instantly. "W-What are you _talking_ about_! ?_"

That cocky smirk was still on his face, "You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about."

I stood out of my chair to put my dirty plate into the basin, using it as an excuse so that Sora wouldn't get any ideas about why my face was so bright.

I mean, even_ I_ didn't know why.

"No, Sora. I have _no_ idea what you're talking about."

My brother was entirely calm though, folding his hands behind his head and leaning back in his chair. "Au contraire, mon frè savez _exactement_ ce que je parle."

I angrily dropped the tableware into the basin, reminding myself that I'd have to wash them later. "Sora, don't pull French on me! It doesn't make a difference. And I _still_ have no idea what you mean, and I _don't_ want to talk about Naminé."

There was still a smirk on his face though, "Hein? Donc, si vous ne voulez pas parler de Naminé, vous voulez parler de vos _sentiments_ pour Naminé. Am I right, or am I right?"

_Eh? So if you don't want to talk about _Naminé_, you want to talk about your _feelings_ for Naminé. _

My face reddened, and I stomped towards the sofa on the living room, making sure that Sora still couldn't see my face, "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

I heard my brother chuckle, "_Sureeee_ you don't."

"Well then, what about your feelings for _Kairi_?"

There was a gasp from the table, and I could easily imagine that Sora was shocked that I even _dared_ to bring her up.

Well sorry, Sora, but it was the only subject change I could think of.

"W-W-_What_ feelings for Kairi?"

I smirked at him, gaining the courage to look him in the eye, "You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about."

"No I don't!"

My smirk only widened, "Au contraire, mon frè savez _exactement_ ce que je parle."

A glare etched itself onto Sora's features, "Hey! That's not fair, _I _said that first! You can't use my own words against me!"

I simply shrugged at him, a devious twinkle present in my eyes. "Of course I can. I can do whatever I want. It's a free country."

My brother only scowled at me in response.

Still eager for an answer though, I made my way towards him, "_So_. . . Are you going to make up with Kairi anytime soon?"

To my surprise, Sora didn't even _attempt_ to change the subject. He only mumbled a simple, "I already did."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Come _on_, Sora. I can tell that you're lying."

Sora's frown intensified, "I already forgave her. That's that."

I couldn't stop myself from letting out a sigh of exasperation, "Uh _huh_. _Sure_ you did. And you still refuse to talk or make eye contact with her _because. . ._"

There was a pause before he responded with a distressed, "I-I don't know, okay?"

I gave him a curious look. ". . . Sora, that was the most pathetic excuse _ever_. At least be a little more creative. And you say that _I_ can't hold up my end of a conversation."

My twin rolled his eyes, "Again, stop using my own words against me. That's just not fair."

I merely shrugged in response.

It took a while, but eventually Sora continued with what he was saying earlier, "I'm telling the truth though. I don't really know why I'm avoiding her."

And it was _this_ statement that utterly confused me. I mean, _why_ was he ignoring someone, one of his _best friends,_ without a reason? It just didn't make sense. Plus, the only way I could think to respond to him involved calling him an idiot, and I _really_ didn't want to piss him off.

Not now, anyway.

"Sora. . . That doesn't make any sense."

My brother looked defeated, as though he had tried really hard to explain it to me, but ultimately failed. "I just. . . I tell myself _every day_, 'This'll be the day you fix things with Kairi. This'll be the day that everything will be better.' But the thing is, every time I see her, my heart just. . . _hurts_. I don't know what else to call it. And I mean. . . the pain is _awful_. Did you hear the song that she sang on the first round of Battle of the Bands! ? Did you _see_ the way she looked at me! ?"

I blinked, still not able to make sense of his words. I guess that he noticed the expression on my face, because his face seemed to falter even _more_. But he didn't say anything, and simply shook his head sadly as he turned to put his dishes away. "You still don't get _it_."

I could tell that he hadn't meant for me to hear those words, but I still managed to. "Get _what_?"

He plopped his dishes into the basin, before looking up at me once more, "Roxas, you think that _I'm_ lying to myself, but I think that _you're_ the one that's lying to yourself."

I groaned at him, throwing my arms up into the air angrily before stomping back towards the couch. "There you go again, not making any sense! How am _I_ lying to myself? I'm completely honest to everyone!"

Well, it's the _truth_. Though sometimes, honesty _isn't_ the best policy.

. . . Heehee, that _rhymed_.

Now Sora was giving me that look of his that said, "I'm disappointed with you," which didn't make any sense because there was no _reason_ for him to be disappointed with me. "You like Naminé, but you're scared to admit it."

And in that one second, my jaw dropped so far down, that I'm pretty sure it could've possibly fallen off. "W-What! ? No way!"

Sora sighed, before sitting down next to me on the couch, "There you go again. _Lying to yourself_."

I felt my eyes narrow at him, "I am _not_ lying to myself!"

"You are too."

"Am not!"

"You are too."

"Am _not_!"

"Face it, Roxas. You, my friend, are in _denial_."

I shook my head at him, "You're just being weird today, Sora. I'm not in denial about _anything_."

There was a pause, before Sora's lip twitched upwards. The movement was minute, but it was still something easily noticeable. "So you _don't_ like Naminé?"

It was _because_ of the fact that I noticed his lip twitch upward that I felt slightly uneasy, "No. Not at all."

Unluckily for me, the expression on Sora's face told me that I had said _exactly_ what he expected me to say, "So there's no real reason why you're _obviously_ always thinking about her? Or why I always catch you looking at her in our classes? Or why you were totally jealous of Hope when Naminé was hanging out with him more than you? Or why—"

"W-Well, I like her as a _friend_!"

Sora's smirk was still plastered onto his face. "So you _do_ like her."

I paused, pondering it. "Y-Yeah. I guess I do. As a friend."

My twin nodded slowly, "Alright then. Repeat after me: I like Naminé."

I looked at him skeptically, but his expression told me that if I didn't do as he instructed, he'd throw a bitchfit.

And I _really_ didn't want him to throw a bitchfit.

So slowly, I tried out the words, "I like Naminé."

What was so _weird_ was the fact that saying the words felt both _natural_ and _awkward_ at the same time. It felt like something I _should_ be saying, but something that I wasn't _supposed_ to be saying. It didn't make any sense at all!

But Sora seemed happy with the words, for his smile widened. "Good. Now say it a little faster, and a little louder, over and over again. 'I like Naminé.'"

I gave him another curious look, but tried out the words a few more times for his sake. "I like Naminé. . . I like Naminé. . . I like Naminé. . . I like Naminé. . ."

My brother nodded in approval every time the words escaped my lips, and slowly, I felt like they were beginning to grow on me. Like they were losing their awkwardness. Though it still felt strange to be saying something like that aloud. I mean, saying something like this was kind of misleading, since I only thought of Naminé as a friend. . .

Or do I?

"_Sora? How are you so sure that you even _like_ Kairi that way? It's probably just your wild teenage hormones racing," I reasoned._

_My brother had started talking about _love_. The dreaded word. _

_Slouching in his computer chair with a, dare I say it, _lovesick_ expression on his face was my twin brother. His unruly brown hair stood up in random directions, and his bright blue eyes seemed to be looking off into the distance. "No, no. I'm _positive_ that I like her that way. _Positive_."_

_I had rolled my eyes, turning my attention away from my brother, and onto my homework. _

_But it seemed that my brother wasn't done obsessing over the "girl of his dreams."_

"_Every time I'm around her, my heart beats faster, and my stomach does somersaults. When I'm away from her, I feel antsy and worried that something will happen to her when I'm away. She's all that I can think about, and I _hate_ it when she hangs out with any guy other than me. Whenever we're with a crowd, my eyes automatically home in on her, like she's the only one really worth noticing. She makes me feel. . . so_ happy._"_

_When he began speaking, I looked up at him, innocent curiosity on my face._

_As though to shake himself out of his daydream, he shook his head lightly. "I may not know exactly what love is, Roxas. . . And I know that you _don't_ believe that it's out there. . . But one day. . . You will. I can promise you that."_

I hadn't even noticed the fact that my mantra was becoming louder, quicker. "I like Naminé. I like Naminé. I like Naminé. I _like_ Naminé."

And as that single memory played through my head, I stumbled over my words. "I lo. . .I lo. . ."

There was no need for me to look at Sora so that I could read his expression. I could feel the hopeful aura around him.

"I. . .love. . ."

"ROXAS! SORA! I'M _HOOOOOOME_!"

Immediately, Sora's aura changed from a hopeful one to an angry one, "MOOOOM!"

My mother was standing in the hallway, several bags from many different stores on the floor around her. She looked extremely confused, and looked between the two of us, ". . . Did I interrupt something?"

Sora facepalmed himself, and shot me the look that said, "Uhh, what do I say now?"

But I found that I couldn't respond to him.

And so, my brother simply sighed. "Yeah. Just a bit of bromance."

* * *

An hour had two had passed, but the same thing still occupied my thoughts.

_Naminé._

At the mere mention of the name, my heart seemed to leap forward.

With a dramatic sigh, I buried my face into my pillow. Hoping that by some _miracle_, it would make all the confusion go away.

There was a single knock at the doorway, and before I could yell, "Come in," the person had already entered. Without looking up, I could tell that it was Sora. "Hey bro. . . You alright? You've been in here for a while."

I sighed, slowly moving my body to sit upright and meet his gaze, "Yeah, I am. . . Just. . . Thinking."

Sora just gave me a small smile before sitting next to me on my bed. "Hey, I know that I probably only succeeded in confusing you about everything—"

You've got _that_ right.

"But you would've figured it out sooner or later."

I said nothing to him in reply.

"You know what might help?" I turned my gaze back towards him with a questioning stare. "Invite her to the beach with all of us for Winter Break. Get your feelings organized there. Figure out _exactly_ how you feel when you're around her."

I paused, thinking it over. Maybe Sora actually had a point. It made sense. I mean, it's always better to think about something while you're next to it, right?

I think?

"Yeah. . . I might just do that."

Sora grinned at me, "See? I can be helpful too."

Unfortunately for my brother, it seemed that my mother had walked by my room _just_ as he said that sentence. "You? Helpful? Alright then, Sora. Go and clean your room. It's a _mess_."

There was a pause, before my brother's eyes widened in horror, "M-MOM! THERE'S A COCKROACH IN THERE!" He had jumped out of his seat on the bed, and was looking around nervously as though he expected millions of bugs to come out of nowhere.

"Okay, Sora. So kill it."

My brother shook his head desperately, "N-No! I _hate_ cockroaches!"

I could tell that my mother was slightly annoyed with Sora's disobedience when she walked into my room, arms crossed, "Sora. You either tidy up your room just a _little _bit, or you sleep in the garage. Your choice. But last time I checked, our garage was _infested_ with those creatures."

Sora looked like he was about to cry.

* * *

**A Wishful Thought: **I'll be honest right upfront: I'm not very happy with this chapter. XP I think that it could've turned out a lot better, and I feel as though I rushed through it all. :|

But I don't have time to go through and edit everything, so PLEASE don't hurt me! D:

I'm thinking about not writing the next Battle of the Bands round, unless you all _really_ want to read it. XP If I decide not to do it (which I'm leaning towards at this point), then:

_**Next time**_ ANOTHER SCHOOL CHAPTER. XD We MIGHT finally find out what's been bugging Olette so much, and Roxas will have even MORE fun trying to sort out his feelings for our beloved Nami. XD

Please _**review.**_


	14. I Am So Awkward

**A Wishful Thought:** Holy CRAP, you guys. All the feedback I got from you guys was freaking AMAZING! :'D

And 38 reviews? That's the most I've ever gotten for one chapter! :D So special thanks to my reviewers:

**Jarm957**, **ryu. Hikari**, **Witch of Tragedies**, **LightSky**, **sajere1**, **Oblivion Fantasy**, **CupcakeLerman**, **cuteangel545**, **Poopsickle. Stick**, **TheCrazyAnimeFan**, **KeybladeMaster97**, **Sato Tadashi**, **Agent. Kacheeky**, **Future X13**, **Sackboy023**, **overreactiveteenagemindsxo**, **Peachie-Pie**, **TwinToshiro**, **Sokai girl4ever**, and **luv. roxas.**

Special props to Sackboy023 for being my 1ooth reviewer! 8D

And everyone. . . TAKE A FREE VIRTUAL BROWNIE! 8D

Oh! And sorry for updating kind of late. Instead of working on this like I should've, I decided to release a special oneshot for SoKai Day! Probably not my best work, but I hope it's enjoyable. Link is on my profile if you have time to give it a shot. (:

AND AT THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER, I HAVE TO SHARE SOME NEWS WITH YOU ALL.

Without further ado, I present the next chapter of Nonexistent!

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _I Am So Awkward_

Is it sad that I _still_ haven't sorted out my Naminé issues?

Yeah. I know it is.

About two weeks have passed since my conversation with Sora, even the latest round of Battle of the Bands has gone by (we made it through! We have a decent fan base, I suppose, but it's obvious that Kairi's band is a _huge_ favorite), and I _still_ haven't figured things out. In fact, I think that by ignoring Naminé as I've tried to sort out my feelings for her just made everything worse.

Oh yeah. Hayner even told me that I was following in Sora's footsteps. And let me tell you: That was a _low_ blow.

And I hate to say it, but I think it might even be _true_.

I know, I know. You think I'd automatically revert back to my normal, "I-Don't-Have-To-Worry-About-My-Feelings!" mode, but it's harder than you'd think it is. I'll tell myself, "Today, my worries shall vanish!" And then I see Naminé, and. . .

All of that just goes down the drain.

I guess it kind of makes it easier for me to understand what Sora meant though. I mean, he _did _say something about having the same problem, right?

What makes everything worse is the fact that after next week, we're leaving for the beach. And I _still _haven't invited Naminé to go.

And what makes _that_ even worse is that I picked her name in Secret Santa.

I have _no_ idea what I should be getting her.

So with all of these thoughts plaguing my mind bright and early on a Wednesday morning, I drove to school.

Well, not _actually_ driving. Driving my skateboard. Does that count as driving, or is it more like _commandeering_?

No, no. Commandeering sounds like something a pirate would say. I'm sticking with driving.

Anyway, Sora was next to me on his skateboard too, and both of us were shaking in the bitter Winter air. It never snowed in Twilight Town, but let me tell you, it got _cold_. Like if it had to be _at least_ 32°F to snow, then the current temperature was probably 32.0000000001°F.

I'm dead serious.

Mom had been more out of it than usual, _especially_ when we reminded her that we were going to the beach, so Sora and I didn't want to hassle her to try and get a ride to school. I mean, the two of us were tough. We could totally handle the heat.

Er. . . I mean, the _cold_.

Even in the dark jeans and multiple layers of henleys, sweaters, and jackets we were wearing, the cold still swarmed our bodies. We even went as far as wearing our ski gloves and our oversized beanies! Sora actually tried to go out of the house with a freaking _ski mask_ on, but after I convinced him that a teenager plus darkness plus ski mask _probably_ wouldn't look too good to our neighbors, he agreed to tough it up without it.

A shiver racked my body, and I managed to gesture to Sora to speed up, to which he simply nodded. Immediately after I noticed this, I placed my hands back at their former position, under my pits. I know it sounds weird, but Mom always said that our pits were the warmest places on our body.

Well, other than our crotches. But if I put my hands by my crotch, people would give me some _weird_ looks. Looks that were _worse_ than Sora in his ski mask.

And I valued my dignity, thank you very much.

* * *

When we arrived to school in the morning after stashing our skateboards in our lockers, the two of us began our search to find our friends.

It was a bit strange: Even though we had a designated place where we would all meet in the morning, no one seemed to follow that rule when it was Winter time. For some _strange_ reason, we'd all be scattered about until someone took the time to herd us all together. It seemed that for an entire season, we'd all forget that we owned cell phones that we could use to call each other and find out where to go.

But Sora and I were lucky this morning.

Like normal teenagers trying to survive the Winter, the two of us instantly made our way to the "Starbucks" Coffee Cart that made a profit selling bitter hot chocolate to the students. Because it tasted so shitty, it was obvious that the hot chocolate wasn't from Starbucks itself. Our school was probably using the name just so that they could feel more comfortable with charging us more money.

Yes, the drink itself sucked, but it doesn't matter as long as it's warm, right?

Anyway, our entire friend group had taken position directly next to the coffee cart as though it would somehow spread its warmth toward them. Each one of them had an identical hot chocolate cup in hand, and all of them were huddled closely together to share body warmth.

There was quiet chatter going on as Sora and I forced our way into the circle, nothing as loud as we usually are though. At first, I had associated it with the temperature: No one was really talking because they were all too cold and busy drinking their hot chocolate to try and stay warm.

Yeah, it probably had something to do with that, but it wasn't until a little later that I realized the _true_ reason why it was so awkward: It was just awkward amongst _all_ of us right now. In fact, the only people that were making constant conversation were Tidus, Selphie, and Pence. Everyone else was remaining eerily quiet.

Sora kept his head down, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. _Especially_ Kairi's. Sure, I had tried to talk to him about making everything between them "normal" again, but obviously that didn't work out. Like Sora, Kairi was also averting her gaze from everyone else's. Occasionally, she would murmur a curt response whenever Selphie would give her an expectant smile, but that was about it for her. _However_, I did manage to catch the two staring at each other. At first, it was kind of timid. It was like they were taking turns staring at each other when the other wasn't noticing.

But at one point, they looked at each other at the _exact_ same time.

Sure, the exchange lasted for only a few measly seconds, but as I glanced between the two of them, it was like all of the emotions that they had kept buried inside were flowing out of their eyes.

Of course, it was broken off with an intense blush on both of their parts.

Now, Olette was never the most talkative out of all of us, but she was never _this_ quiet. She had yet to say a word the _entire_ morning. Her usually bright green eyes seemed dull and lifeless, and her stare seemed vacant, making it obvious that she really wasn't paying attention to anything that was happening around her. It was evident that something was up with her, and I felt a pang of guilt for not following through with my promise with Hayner. I had told him I would figure out what was up with her about two months ago, and I still had yet to even find out why she was so upset.

Speaking of my blonde haired friend, it wasn't too shocking to find that he kept glancing at her worriedly though he would occasionally mumble something in response to Pence.

Shockingly, Riku and Xion also seemed antsy about something. I wasn't too sure as to what it might be since I'm not as close to the two as I used to be, but I figured I'd find out what the deal was eventually.

Naminé was fidgeting uncomfortably in her position next to Olette and Hope. She was wearing a light pair of skinny jeans, and she had also layered several white sweaters along with what I could faintly recognize as one of Hope's jackets, which made my heart sink a little. There was a white crocheted beret on her head, a matching scarf around her neck, and she even had matching mittens covering her hands.

It was easy to say that the girl definitely liked white.

Her cheeks were painted a bright shade of pink because of the cold, but she refused to meet my gaze.

Or. . .I just refused to meet hers. I'm honestly not sure which one it is at this point.

Hope on the other hand wouldn't stop staring at me. And I could tell that it wasn't a normal kind of stare. No, no. This was one of Hope'sstares that just made you_ feel_ like you were a horrible person. He didn't even bother hiding the fact that he was staring at me with that look. It was kind of like his eyes were just _glued_ to me or something.

And I'll admit it, it was making me _extremely _uncomfortable. The kid has the eyes of a _snake_!

Anyway, the small talk continued for a while, before Sora suddenly nudged me, _hard_, in the ribs. I glared at him angrily, clutching the affected rib, "Sora! What the hell was that for?"

My brother simply wiggled his eyebrows at me suggestively before shooting a side glance towards someone.

Oh. _Naminé_.

And through his eyes, I could practically feel what he was trying to say, "You_ still_ haven't invited her to the beach."

I felt my cheeks heat up, before huffing at him and immediately becoming distracted with the wisp of air that floated slightly in front of me from my exhale, watching it disappear.

What can I say? I get distracted easily.

Before I could see Sora's response (if he even _made_ one), the bell rang. As though we were mindless zombies, we all silently stumbled towards the general direction of the AP Astrology room, still managing to walk close together in a group to maintain body warmth. Because of where I had stood in the circle, I ended up being near the back of the pack, which wasn't too big of a deal for me.

That is, until I felt a callused hand cover my mouth, and a muscular arm pulling me away from my friends.

Eyes wide, I scrambled to try and get away from my attacker, angrily flailing my arms and yelling muffled curse words into his hand. But I'm telling you, this guy was _strong_. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn't even manage to catch a glimpse of him. All I really knew was that his jacket was a beige-ish color.

I couldn't help but wonder why all of the teachers and students in the hallway decided to turn a blind-eye to what was happening to me.

Eventually, the guy pulled me into the deserted Guy's Locker Room. I closed my eyes, expecting to get pushed into one of the lockers, but that didn't happen. The person holding me simply let go of me, and lightly shoved me in the general direction of the lockers, but not so hard as to hurt me. When I realized that, "Hey! I'm actually perfectly fine!" I reopened my eyes, albeit I did it a bit skeptically, immediately scanning the area to see who dared to kidnap me and keep me with them in the Guy's Locker Room.

Part of me (okay, I'll be honest. A _majority_ of me), was convinced that I would get raped. And that would screw up my entire brain, because I've never believed it when adults told me that guys could get raped.

And then I saw Hope.

Yes, _Hope_.

If you're anything like me, then you're already thinking, "WHAT THE HEEEEELLL! ?" I mean, who would think that Hope would ever _rape_ someone! He just doesn't seem like the type of guy!

"Sorry 'bout that, Roxas. I just needed to talk to you."

Immediately all thoughts about Hope somehow managing to rape me left my mind as thoughts of how _he_ was my attacker began to fill it. My considerably wide eyes seemed to widen even more as the thought began to settle into my brain. Automatically, my eyes tried to focus on his muscles, a thing that was difficult to do because of the numerous layers he was wearing. And so I resorted to racking my brain, but no matter how hard I remembered, it was _impossible_ for me to see Hope with gigantic muscles.

And I mean, if he had managed to kidnap _me_ with all of my _humungous_ muscles, then _his_ muscles would have to be freaking _huge_. That's just basic math.

Still, it just didn't make any sense to me. Sure, height-wise, Hope and I had it pretty even. But when it came to you know. . . _horizontal_ sizes, I was pretty sure I had him beat. I mean, I 'm not fat or anything! Hope is just scary skinny.

. . .So _how_ was he able to force me in here again?

"Roxas?"

I shook my head to get rid of all the thoughts that were swarming my mind. Well, sort of. My brain immediately began debating whether I should accuse Hope of getting ready to do horrible, _horrible_ things to me, or yelling at him all macho-like for pulling me aside like this and freaking me out. Ultimately, I had decided to go with the latter, but unfortunately, my brain wasn't really communicating with my vocal chords right. "Y-Y-Yeah?"

My voice came out shaky, and it actually _cracked_.

So much for masculine! Dammit, that was just _wimpy_!

Hope didn't seem all to affected by my lame attempt of being macho, and he actually acted like it was completely ordinary. With a sigh, his bag plopped to the floor, and he leaned against the locker-room wall, arms crossed and eyes closed as though he was thinking.

Maybe it was because the new Hope with all of his incredible invisible muscles scared me or something, but I suddenly found that I couldn't speak.

_Damn_, Hope could be _scary_!

Eventually though, his blue-ish green eyes opened, and he bluntly stated, "This is about Naminé."

And immediately I felt my heart sink. Crap. He was going to yell at me, and then he was going to tell me to stay away from her because he's secretly been harboring a humongous crush on her ever since they were babies and that I'm not good for her, or something of the sort.

But since I was still trying to act like I was keeping my cool, I merely muttered, "Yeah?"

He nodded his head as if the simple word was his signal to keep talking. "I don't understand why you're ignoring her like this. It doesn't make any sense, and it's really hurting Naminé's feelings. And I care about Naminé _a lot_. I don't want to see her get hurt." I said nothing, since I had no idea what I _should_ say. Seeing that I had remained silent for a while, Hope merely rolled his eyes and added, "Alright, give me _one good reason_ as to why you're not talking to Naminé anymore."

I remained silent, letting the awkward tension settle into the air. "I-I don't know. . ."

Alright, _that_ was a lie. Well, partially. I mean, I _sorta_ knew. That is, if I was deciding to believe what Sora had told me.

So maybe I _wasn't_ lying.

Hope agitatedly let out a huff, before shifting his body a bit, "Seriously, Roxas? Just man up and admit it to me."

Oh dear Lord. This feels like talking to Sora all over again. "A-Admit what?"

The boy's eyes narrowed, and at that point, he really _did_ look like a snake. "You know what I mean."

I opened my mouth to say that, no, I _didn't_ really know what he meant (even though that was a total lie), but quickly shut it when my eyes involuntarily met his. The emotion in them was something that you just can't describe. But I could tell that he wasn't doing this to me just so he could tease me, or spread a rumor, or anything stupid of the sort.

It just looked like he was genuinely concerned about Naminé and her feelings.

That shouldn't have been too much of a shocker for me, but for some reason, I cracked, "Fine. It's because. . . because I. . .l-li—" I choked on the last word, trying to cover it up with a cough, but it seemed like Hope still understood what I meant.

His expression didn't change, and with a monotone voice, he stated, "You like her."

I couldn't stop myself from cringing at his words. Not because they stung or anything, but because I _still_ had yet to completely accept this fact. But still, I managed to slowly nod.

For a while, neither of us said anything. And honestly, the silence was suffocating. Then, Hope continued, "It's a weird reason to ignore someone, don't you think?" I simply turned my gaze towards the ground. Hope's tone wasn't scolding or anything like that, but rather, it just made me feel guilty. He correctly guessed that I wouldn't be saying anything anytime soon, because he decided to continue after taking a short pause, "When you like someone. . . The last thing you want them to do is get hurt, right?"

Like the little boy that was ashamed of stealing the last cookie in the cookie jar, I could do nothing but dejectedly nod my head.

"Well, you ignoring Naminé has been hurting her a lot." At this, I couldn't help but flinch at his bluntness. I could tell that he saw the slight movement, but he still continued, "I know that this whole 'liking' thing is a whole new world to you, Axel told me," mentally, I cursed Axel's existence, "but you don't have to be afraid of it. Your friends can you help through it. _I'll_ help you through it if you want my help. The one thing that you _don't_ want to do though is take out your confusion on the person you care about so much. You're only making them hurt, and why would you want to do that?"

I still remained silent, as I absorbed his words.

Hope was right. I was being a total douchebag.

The feeling of being a complete idiot washed over me, and somehow, amidst it all, I felt myself smile at him. "Thank you."

For a moment, he said nothing. But then, his lip twitched upward, and the twitch turned into a smile. "It's no problem. But let's get going. At this rate, we're definitely going to get detentions."

I nodded, hastily picking up my bag, and following Hope as he lead the way out of the room. I stopped him before he could open the door though. And without realizing what I was doing, I felt the words tumble out of my mouth, "Do you love her? Naminé?"

The awkwardness that had _just_ left the room, quickly rushed back into it.

Hope slowly turned to face me, a mixed expression of shock and surprise written all over it. "W-What did you say?"

Both his face and my face were stained a bright shade of red. I cleared my throat awkwardly, before repeating myself. "D-Do you love Naminé?"

Even though _I_ was the one to bring up the topic, I found that I was still scared to hear his answer.

And so, the few minutes during which I had to wait felt like _hell_ for me.

Eventually though, he slowly responded, "Yes."

I felt the color drain from my face, as I took in his answer. Sure, I had been completely horrified by my feelings up to this point, but now that I had finally accepted them, it was like I had lost all hope. _Because_ of Hope. I mean, him and Naminé have known each other probably since _birth_. There's no _way_ I have a chance against that!

"But," I felt my heart stop as he intercepted my pessimistic thoughts, "I'm not sure _how_ I love her. Sure, I know the emotion is there. But I don't know if it's the kind of love I have for her as my best friend, or the kind of love that _you're_ thinking of."

I let out the breath that I hadn't even realized I'd been holding, a feeling of small relief spreading over me. It meant that my chances had increased a little, right?

He smirked at me before adding, "Just know that if you do _anything_ to hurt her again, I'll cut off your dick, and stick it so far up your ass that it'll come out of your mouth."

I gulped, staring after him in fear as he casually walked out of the door.

* * *

When we walked into class, there was only ten minutes left.

So, yes. Uncle Cid was _pissed_.

"Why the _hell_'re you so late! ?"

I knew that I should've _probably_ been trying to think of a way to get the two of us out of this mess, but none of the thoughts were coming. In fact, all I could really do was scan the classroom until my eyes met the certain cerulean blue eyes of a concerned girl.

Luckily, Hope was still perfectly sane and managed to come up with a simple excuse, "Our textbooks were in Roxas' locker, but the stupid thing wouldn't open."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Sora raise an eyebrow at this claim. He was with me when I opened my locker this morning, and it had opened easily.

Uncle Cid said nothing for a moment before muttering, "You know, it's against school policy to share lockers. . ."

I felt myself (and the rest of first period) look at him curiously. Was it _really_ against the rules? Because pretty much _everyone_ shared their lockers with each other.

I opened my mouth to contradict what Hope said, not wanting to have to get him in trouble. I mean, the real reason as to _why_ he got in trouble was because he was trying to help me out, right?

But before I could say anything, Hope spoke up, "I know. But it's not Roxas' fault. I insisted that I put my things in his locker since his locker had a more convenient location."

Cid said nothing for a moment, before waving the thought away, "I suppose I can—"

"—Send me off to the Principal's Office?" Hope finished for him. Cid stared at him, somewhat surprised. It has seemed like he was planning on just letting Hope off with a warning (not that the guy needed it. I'm not even sure why he picked _that _excuse!).

Eyebrows furrowed, Cid continued to look at him curiously, "The Principal's Office?"

Hope seemed to hesitate for a moment, and his eyes flickered towards the same girl that I was sneaking looks at.

Naminé.

I couldn't exactly understand what they were saying with just their eyes, but Naminé seemed to be trying to convince Hope not to go through with whatever he was trying to do.

But it seemed like she didn't do too good of a job. "Yes, the Principal's Office. Mister Highwind, I don't want you to get in trouble for this whole fiasco if somebody finds out. It's my fault, and so I should be the one getting all the blame."

His words caused whispers to immediately leave the lips of a majority of the members of the classroom. Even I couldn't stop myself from raising an eyebrow at him. Uncle Cid was going to let him get off the hook without any punishment, so why was he insisting that he be punished?

Uncle Cid was looking at Hope curiously as well, but in the end, decided not to over-think it. "Alright, then. Go on down to the Principal's place."

My silver-haired boy nodded, before promptly walking out of the classroom.

Cid nodded at me, and slowly, I made my way to my seat, letting my chin rest on my hand.

Why did Hope smirk before he left?

* * *

After first period, my sole mission for the day was to get Naminé to go to the beach with us.

I spent the entire second and third period thinking about how I should do it. Which, while a little sad, provided me with enough time to calm my nerves and think about the best way to ask her.

I mean, the last thing I wanted to do was come off as pathetic.

After third period, we had AP Calculus together, and so before that, I was going to make my move.

Without informing Sora as to where I was going (at that time, it hadn't registered to me as weird that Hope still hadn't come back from the Principal's Office), I dashed towards the AP Latin room, scanning the hallway for where Naminé might be. Luckily for me, she was already at her locker, taking out the things she needed for AP Calculus.

For a second, I actually felt nervous. But I quickly shook the thought away, forcing myself to gain at least _some_ level of confidence. I hid behind her locker door, leaning against the neighboring locker, and doing my best to look cool and sexy.

And since I'm me, it wasn't too difficult.

When she finally closed her locker door, I immediately activated my sexy voice. "Hey."

My eyes (which had formerly been closed to somehow increase the sexy effect) quickly opened once I heard the weird giggling that sounded both feminine _and_ masculine. And as soon as I took the sight in before me, I felt my left eye beginning to twitch.

"Axel! What the hell are you doing here! ?"

The pyromaniac's eyes widened, and he hurriedly shushed me.

My so-called "friend" had dressed up like a girl for some reason. He had fake boobs, a long, blonde wig, and I even spotted the make-up on his face. Now that I was up close, I realized that his outfit was more off-white compared to Naminé's, and that his bag was a darker gray than hers.

I felt like shooting myself for getting him confused with Naminé.

"I'm doing recon for the Organization. If you blow my cover, I'll set your _other_ arm on fire."

Even though it was obvious that he was trying his hardest to seem tough and menacing, the fact that he was wearing _girl_'s clothes and _make-up_ made it so that I couldn't take him seriously. So, yeah. I burst out laughing.

As all people do when they start cracking up while they're trying to walk, I stumbled backwards, and without meaning to, I stepped on someone's foot. A high-pitched shriek echoed throughout the hallway. Immediately snapped out of my laughing fit, I turned to face whoever I stepped on to apologize. But before I had the chance to, the girl I stepped on, slammed her locker door shut.

Unfortunately for me, I hadn't moved my fingers from when I was leaning against the locker.

My scream (that I'm pretty sure sounded manly and _not_ girly, no matter _what_ Axel says) echoed throughout the halls.

I clutched my throbbing hand while I screamed, painfully holding it up in the air, and backing up even _more_ from the scene of the crime. But because I just have _horrible_ luck, I walked into somebody _else_, causing them to fall.

A loud crashing of books and papers sounded throughout the hallway (I'm surprised that none of the teachers came out of the classroom to see what was happening), and since I'm not exactly the _un_-clumsiest person out there, I fell on top of whoever I bumped into.

I didn't actually register what had happened until I heard a loud squeak, followed by a whimper and a quiet, "R-Roxas. . . That kinda hurt. . ."

Eyes wide, I jumped off of whoever it was. I could feel a sense of horror flooding my insides as recognition settled into my brain.

_That voice. . . _

I whirled around to face my victim, my expression full of horror, "Oh my God! Naminé, I'm so sorry!"

The petite girl was still sitting on the floor in disarray, all of her things scattered around her. Her face was flushed, and she was gingerly rubbing her right arm. Tears were leaking out of her eyes as she did so, and she looked absolutely frightened.

I felt like an idiot.

Hastily, I offered her my hand to help her up from her position. Hesitantly she reached out with her left hand, taking mine.

But because I'm the idiot I am, I offered her the hand that had the _locker door slammed into it_.

So of course, I shrieked, and without thinking, let go of her. She was already partially up, so she fell back onto the hallway floor again.

After I realized what I had just done, I _freaked_. _Especially_ since Naminé was now crying.

No, it wasn't the full on sobbing, with snot leaking out of her nose and all that, but the point still stands.

It was then that I realized that she had landed back onto the arm that she had been rubbing previously. "N-Naminé! I-I-I didn't mean to drop—"

"_Naminé_! What happened! ?" I looked up from my apology to see Hope coming out of nowhere. Inwardly, I had to facepalm myself.

When Hope found out what happened, he was going to _kill_ me.

Actually, he was just going to cut off my dick and. . . well, stick it up my ass. Which is pretty much killing me.

Dear God, my life sucks.

* * *

As you may have figured, Hope took Naminé to the nurse. And even after fourth period was over and we were eating lunch, the two _still_ hadn't returned. To make the whole overall feeling worse, we were still in "rebellion-mode" against the school. _Meaning_, we were _still_ sitting outside.

Usually I wouldn't mind, but at this rate, my balls were going to freeze off before Hope could cut them off himself.

Hayner and Sora were sitting next to me, and everyone else that was outside with us was close by, seeing as we were trying to share body warmth. Since we were so close together though, I could hear Rikku asking Vanille if it was true that I had purposely pushed Naminé down because I was angry at her for rejecting my offer to go with her to the Winter Formal because she had decided to go with Hope instead, which did _not_ help my mood at _all_.

I mean, I wasn't even _going_ to the Winter Formal!

Sora poked my shoulder gently, and I turned my gaze towards him. "Hey, don't get upset about any of it, Roxie. You know that that's not the truth, and that's all that counts, right?" He offered up a hopeful smile, as though he was hoping that it would somehow increase the chance that I was going to believe his words.

Still, he was at least _trying_, so I gave him a curt nod.

It seemed as though Hayner realized that I wasn't entirely buying it though, because he gently prodded me with his elbow. "Aw, cheer up, Rox. As long as your friends, the people you should _really_ care about, don't believe it, then you're all good. And I'm almost _positive_ that none of us believe that stupid rumor."

As if on cue, Selphie, who had just come back from buying lunch at the cafeteria, stomped over to me, expression absolutely _furious_. "Roxas! What's your _problem_? Poor, Naminé!" She took in a deep breath, and it seemed to calm her down a bit. As she exhaled, the anger left her eyes, and she looked almost sympathetic. "I know it's your first crush and all, but it's alright. Remember: There are other fish in the sea."

Hayner and Sora facepalmed themselves simultaneously, making Selphie shoot them curious looks. I just stared at her incredulously. I mean, come _on_. She may not be my _best_ friend, but she knows that our entire friend group never actually goes to Winter Formal. We always ditch it to go to the beach.

And she _should_ now. She was the one who _came up_ with the whole idea.

She cocked her head slightly, her eyes moving from Hayner, to me, to Sora repeatedly. In a confused, innocent voice, she asked, "Was it something I said?"

* * *

After lunch, Hope miraculously came out of nowhere once more, and pulled me to the side. I was expecting him to show up with a giant butcher knife in hand while laughing maniacally, but the guy only seemed exasperated. Without any formalities, he bluntly stated, "Naminé fractured her arm."

I winced, knowing it was my fault.

At this, he merely said, "Don't worry about it, she'll be fine. The nurse is going to bandage her up, and she'll be coming back in the middle of sixth period. You're lucky that you didn't hurt her left hand, or she would probably hate you for a couple of hours."

"Naminé's left-handed?"

"Yup."

It was silent for a moment, before Hope let out an exasperated sigh, "Axel—I mean, _Axette_," he paused for a moment as he shuddered in disgust, "Told me what happened. Roxas, what _exactly_ were you trying to do?"

I grimaced, and immediately, the little voice inside of me told me _not_ to tell Hope the truth. But it was like Hope could read minds or something, because he rose an eyebrow at me, as if saying, "Lying to me is a stupid idea."

I sighed, "Alright, well you see. . ."

| N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N + |

When I finished my story, Hope actually _laughed_.

I couldn't help but frown at him. I mean, was it really that funny?

When he caught his breath, he simply smiled at me, "You're trying too hard. Just _ask_ her."

I looked at him incredulously, ". . .That's _all_?"

He simply nodded, still smiling to himself as though he found the entire situation just _that_ humorous. "Naminé's a simple girl. You don't have to try to be something you're not to try and convince her to go to the beach with you."

Quietly, I absorbed his words before smiling to myself. "You're right!" But my smile disappeared as soon as I realized something in his words. "Wait a second, something I'm not? But I was trying to be cool and sexy!"

Hope kept his smirk on, "Exactly."

I guffawed at him, "B-But I _am_ cool and sexy!"

Hope chuckled, before turning away and beginning to walk towards the English room. "Whatever makes you feel better about yourself, Roxas."

I ran after him, "N-No! I _AM_ _cool and sexy!_"

| N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N + |

Hope refuses to acknowledge my cool sexiness.

* * *

I was on edge the entire sixth period. It was going to work out for me this time. _I was going to do this_!

I had a huge, creepy smile on my face as soon as I waited for Naminé to walk into the room. I was brimming with so much confidence, that I was probably radiating the aura of a douchebag, but that didn't matter at this point! _I was going to do this_!

Except she didn't show up.

Even when the warning bell rang, signaling that we only had a minute left to get to our seventh period class, there was still no sight of the girl.

So, I had no choice but to dash to the boys' locker room to change into my gym clothes before rushing into the gym. The rest of the gang was waiting there, calmly discussing whatever they were talking about in the dead-center of the gym. I huffed, slightly out of breath from my run, before jogging towards them.

"I told you before, I hadn't remembered the whole beach thing!"

Hayner was rolling his eyes, arms crossed, "Seriously, Selphie? It was _your_ idea."

The brunette puffed up her cheeks in annoyance, "It was a mistake, kay? You know me, I'm a gossip machine! I guess I got so caught up in it, that I forgot to think about whether or not it was actually true. . ."

"It's alright, Hayner. I forgave her already," I said, trying to stop them from arguing.

"You did! ?" Selphie turned to beam with me, eyes wide with gratitude, "That's awesome!"

I returned her grin, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly, "Yeah, no hard feelings, right? It'd be kinda stupid to actually be angry at you for something stupid like that. Plus, Hope's not going to cut off my—"

"I'm not going to do what?"

I blinked, not realizing that Hope was behind me. "Uh, nothing, Sir! I-I mean, Hope!"

The rest of the group shot the two of us a curious stare, and seeing this, Hope couldn't stop himself from laughing. Before long, I jumped in, and the others, though it was obvious that they weren't sure what was happening, joined in as well.

"Heeeeey! Come on you guys! Boys on one side, girls on the other!"

We all turned to face our ninja-crazed gym coach, before complying to her wishes. For some reason, Coach Yuffie was always too lazy to actually divide us into _actual_ teams, so we always ended up playing boys versus girls.

My guy friends chatted for a bit, though I wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying. I was still wondering where Naminé was. . .

After Coach did a headcount, she frowned. "Someone's absent. I need a tough guy to man up and go on the girl's team!"

I heard muttered whispers around me, as all of the guys in the gym debated who we should sacrifice to the girls. All of a sudden, I saw a trace of white quietly walk into the gym.

_Naminé_.

"I-I volunteer myself!"

"_Roxas_! No! You're actually _good_ at kickball!"

Yes. We were high schoolers that still played kickball. Don't judge us.

Coach Yuffie waved away Hayner's concern. "I'm sure you guys still have a few good members. Roxas, thank you for volunteering."

I nodded at her, and forced a smile, before walking to the girls' side of the gym. Immediately, I was swarmed by people of the opposite sex.

"Alright, now that that's settled, we can start the game!" Coach Yuffie said. But before she could start talking about the actual rules, she was interrupted by the walking in of an administrator. The said administrator hurriedly gestured for her to come over. With a roll of her eyes, our Coach halfheartedly said, "I'll be back. You can talk amongst yourselves for now."

_Great! This is my chance!_

Gulping, I pushed my way through the crowd of females to where all of my girl friends were fawning over Naminé's injuries.

"Really. . . I'm fine, you guys."

"That stupid Roxas! He can be such an idiot!"

I felt a vein in my forehead twitch, before I roughly shoved Selphie out of the circle. "Really, Selphie? After I _just_ forgave you?"

She looked at me, surprise on her face, before laughing nervously, "Ah, don't take that seriously, Rox! I was just joking with you, ya know?"

I simply rose an eyebrow at this claim, before turning my attention away from her. "Naminé, I'm really sorry about what happened. I-I didn't mean to hurt you, it was just. . . on accident."

She stared at me curiously for a moment (I'm not entirely sure why), making me squirm a little out of discomfort. It seemed that Xion seemed to notice this, because she nudged me lightly, a large smirk on her face. I pouted at her, hoping that Naminé wouldn't notice.

Luckily for me, it didn't seem like it. She simply smiled, before saying, "I-It's alright. I'll be fine in no time!"

I felt the smile take over my face. But before I could respond, the administrator, which I grimly realized was Miss Quistis, called, "Miss Hart, will you come here please?"

Olette blinked, in shock for being requested by an administrator. I mean, it was understandable. The administrators usually only requested for the students that had done something bad. And what could Olette have done that was so bad that the administrators would need her?

With a frown, the brunette nodded, before hesitantly beginning her walk towards Miss Quistis and Coach Yuffie. The two adults had grim expressions on their faces, and I immediately felt curious as to why. It seemed as though the rest of the circle was a bit worried for Olette's sake too. "I wonder why they need to talk to Olette. . ."

"Olette's never gotten in trouble before. The girl has a clean slate!"

"I know. . . I'm sure she'll be fine though! Maybe they just want to give her an award for her smartacularness or something!" Selphie exclaimed cheerfully, trying to brighten the mood. But it was obvious that none of us believed her. Hell, she didn't even look as though she believed _herself_.

"They wouldn't be looking so. . . ominous if they were going to congratulate her," Xion muttered.

It was quiet for a few seconds, but all of a sudden, normal conversation started again. In fact, it was like the entire Olette thing had been forgotten!

_Now's my chance. . . _ I glanced towards Naminé, taking a gulp. It wasn't that I was _nervous_. Psh, of course not! But my curiosity for Olette was skewing me from my true mission of the day. Still, I wasn't going to give up. Of course not! "Hey, Naminé. Can I ask you something?"

She looked up to me, and as though she was purposely trying to make me feel bad for the whole fiasco, she was cradling her damaged arm gently. "Yeah, of course, Roxas. What is it?"

I fidgeted with my hands nervously. It was finally the moment of truth. "I was wondering if you maybe wanted to—"

Before I could finish, I was interrupted by Olette running past us hurriedly. I blinked in surprise, as did the rest of the group. Hesitantly, I looked down at my right arm.

Sure enough, there was a single teardrop on it.

I shot a glance towards Naminé, before my eyes trailed back towards Olette. "I. . . Uhh. . ." I felt the weight of a stare on me, so I turned my head to look over my shoulder.

Hayner had this worried expression on his face, and was obviously trying to send me a pointed message.

My eyes made their way back to Naminé's face. She didn't seem to be reading too much into what was happening to Olette, probably because she hadn't realized that Olette was actually _crying_. There was a faint smile lingering on her lips, and her eyes were wide and inviting, calmly waiting for me to say what I needed to.

I hesitated for a moment, before saying, "I-I'll. . . be right back," and dashing after Olette.

* * *

"Olette! Olette, where are you! ? It's me, Roxas!"

I looked around me, seeing no sign of the green-eyed girl. I had lost sight of her, but I knew that she was somewhere in the garden. Or at least, that's where I _think_ she went. It remained silent for a moment, before the quiet sound of a muffled sob echoed out through the courtyard.

Slowly, I made my way towards the sound, finding Olette sitting against a tree, trying to stay quiet. She was full-on sobbing, and even though her eyes were closed, tears were still leaking out. Heavy, labored breaths and shudders were racking her body, and I wasn't sure if it was because of the cold, or just because of whatever was making her cry.

"'Lette?" Her eyes darted open at the sound of her name, and the vivid green seemed blurred and shaded by the puffy red of her eyes. Seeing it was me, she stopped choking back her sobs, and simply sat there while they racked her body.

Honestly, I had no idea as to what I should do.

Cautiously, I took a seat next to her. "'Lette. . . What's wrong?"

She said nothing, but just continued to cry and shiver. I felt the frown on my lips, "'Lette, c'mon. . . It's cold. Let's go inside where it's—"

"I-I don't want to go back."

It grew awkward, as I stared at her blankly. I know, I know. It sounds horrible, right? But I never have any idea as to what I should do in these situations. Whenever someone needed comforting, I wasn't the person they'd go to.

Yet, here I was.

Hesitantly, I spoke, "'Lette. . . You're going to get sick. You have to at least go inside. . ."

She shook her head desperately, and her breathing became more labored as she tried to speak, "N-No. . . T-T-They'll take me away. . ."

Immediately, my eyes widened, and I moved my body so I could stare at her better, concern making my eyes widen. "Take you away?" Her tears began to leak faster, and her body began to shake even more. Not knowing what else to do, I engulfed her in a hug. She choked back another sob, before pulling me closer so that she could cry into my chest. "'Lette. . . C'mon, you know you can talk to me. . ."

"R-Roxas. . . You don't understand. . ."

"Give me a shot."

I felt her take a deep breath against me, before she managed, "_She's dead_." Her voice cracked on the last word, and she was suddenly in hysterics again.

I opened my mouth to ask _who_ was dead, but then it clicked.

Her grandmother.

Her guardian.

Her only blood relative that was still alive.

She was dead.

I felt my insides drop. I couldn't possibly _begin_ to understand the pain she was going through, and that just made me feel even worse. If her grandmother had died. . . Then who would be taking care of Olette?

Before realizing what I was doing, the words tumbled out of my mouth, "H-How did she die?"

It was obvious that Olette was trying her best to stop the tears from coming, but it just wasn't working. After a while, she whispered, "She's been in the hospital since early September. . ."

My eyes widened even more. For two whole months she had been dealing with all that stress by herself! ? No wonder she had seemed so out of it. . . "W-What! ? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

She looked up at me, the tears still in her eyes, and immediately I felt bad for prying too much into her personal life. It seemed that she didn't mind letting it all out to me though, for she answered me, "I-I was going to tell Hayner, b-but. . . He's been acting so weird around me, and I think he's starting to _hate_ me or something!"

I stared at her incredulously. Hayner? _Hating Olette_?

No way was that _ever_ going to happen.

"What makes you think that?"

She sniffled, and it was then that I realized that her grip had loosened on me, for she was now back to hugging her knees as she sat against the tree. "I dunno. . . It just feels so awkward between us now. Every time I turn to look at him, he looks away, like he doesn't want to look at me. And whenever we talk, it always feels like he's holding something back from me. Like a secret or something." Her tears had begun to let up as well, but there was still a frown on her lips. "I think I did something, but I don't know what. . ."

Okay, wait a second.

So Olette, my genius friend, couldn't put all that together and realize that Hayner was obviously crushing on her?

Dear God.

I know it sounds horrible, _especially_ since she had just had an emotional breakdown, but I had to try _extremely_ hard not to smile. "Hm. . . I'm pretty sure that he's not angry at you, Olette. In actuality, he's been worried _sick_ about you."

Her downcast eyes immediately flickered towards me, "Really?"

I nodded fervently, "Hell yeah. I was talking to him a while back, and he was worried because he thought that _you_ were angry at him. He said something about how he felt like you were holding something back from him, and he was wishing that you'd tell him, because all he wanted to do was help."

Her face that had been flushed from the cold air seemed to redden even more. "Oh."

It was quiet for a moment, before Olette started crying again.

I felt the dread settle in again. And I had thought that I had actually managed to cheer her up. . . Alright, I didn't actually _do_ anything, but I was still hoping.

"R-Roxas, what am I-I going to _do_? W-When I go back in there. . . T-They might take me away. . . I-I don't have anywhere else to go, and I. . ." Her voice broke off again, and I felt absolutely horrible.

I drew her into another tight hug, "Don't worry, it'll all work out. . . Maybe you can stay at my house for a bit. . ."

She bit her lip, before staring up at me. She looked hopeful for a second, but it was quickly wiped away. "N-No, I can't do that. . . Your mom isn't listed as one of my legal guardians. . . I-I think they're going to bring me to the L-Land of Departure. . ."

_The Orphanage. _

Wait, they couldn't send Olette to an orphanage! If those places are _anything_ like the movies, then they were serious shitholes!

"No way! I'll tell my mom, and she'll like. . . Bring the case to court!"

She managed a forced giggle at my idea. Before she could say anything though, the school bell rang, signaling the end of the day.

Holy _crap_, were we talking for that long! ?

And I _still_ haven't asked Naminé!

It seemed as though Olette could read my mind or something, because she lightly pushed me away, and tried to contort her face into an encouraging smile. "I-I'll be alright. . . Go talk to her, Roxas."

I felt my face heat up, "W-What? How did you—"

She sighed, but still managed to giggle, "Roxas, you're _really_ obvious."

_Right_. So she could tell that I had a crush on Naminé, but she couldn't tell that Hayner had a crush on _her_?

I decided to say nothing, but I shot her a grateful smile as I ran back towards the gym.

* * *

By the time I got there, it was practically cleared. I grimaced, realizing that that meant that Naminé was probably on her way home. There was no way that I was going to miss her!

I dashed towards the Guys' Locker Room, grabbing my things, and not even bothering to change out of my gym clothes. With a gulp of air for encouragement, I ran as fast as I could towards the front of the school.

_No sight of Naminé_.

My frown deepened. That meant she had already started walking home with Kairi and Selphie, and her house was in the _opposite_ direction from mine. I shot a longing look towards the direction of home, knowing that Sora was probably waiting for me somewhere along the way, but still raced the other way.

I mean, Sora could wait, right?

It felt like it took _forever_, but eventually I caught up with Naminé, Kairi, and Selphie. Albeit, my hair was askew, I was out of breath, and even though it was _freezing_ outside, I had managed to sweat like there was no tomorrow.

"Roxas? What are you doing here?"

I opened my mouth to respond to Selphie, but I felt my gaze move itself to stare at Naminé.

Instantly, all of my resolve went down the drain.

What was I going to do! ? _What was I going to do_! ?

"Roxas? _Roxas_? Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah. . . I'm okay. . ."

Selphie rose an eyebrow at me, while Naminé was looking at me worriedly. Kairi of course, was staring blankly at her shoes. "Roxas, isn't your house the _other_ way? Why'd you come here?"

There was so many things I could've said that would've made sense. But unfortunately, my brain was a mess. Desperately, I scrambled for some kind of excuse to explain myself, and without thinking about it, the words tumbled out of my mouth, "I-I just had to tell Naminé that her shoes were untied!"

It was silent for a moment, as the trio (yes, even Kairi) looked at me peculiarly. Slowly, they each looked down to take a look at Naminé's shoes.

"Um, Roxas? My boots don't have laces."

Shit.

I felt my face flush as Selphie burst out into laughter. Hell, even _Kairi_ was trying to keep a straight face. Naminé on the other hand had the _cutest_ smile on her face as she giggled, her pearly whites practically blinding me.

Without any formalities, I grabbed her wrist, leading her away from Kairi and Selphie saying, "I-I have to talk to you. . ."

When we were a good distance away so that Selphie wouldn't be able to eavesdrop (I was hoping that depressed Kairi wasn't going to try to do anything like that), I stopped. There was still a grin on Naminé's face as she asked, "What do you need to talk to me about, Roxas?"

This was it.

The moment of truth.

I WAS GOING TO DO THIS!

Before I could start freaking about how _exactly_ I was going to word this, I purposely blurted the words out, "D-DO YOU WANT TO GO TO THE BEACH WITH US OVER WINTER BREAK! ?"

She stared at me blankly for a second, before bursting out into laughter.

Immediately, I felt my heart sink.

Crap. So I only succeeded in coming off as an idiot. _Great_.

However, when she had finally calmed down a bit, she took my hand gently, still smiling up at me, "I'd love to go, Roxas."

YES. WHO'S THE IDIOT NOW, _SUCKER_! ?

"_Buuuuuuut_, you're a little late. Selphie told Yuna, who told Rikku, who told Vanille, who told Hope, who already invited me last week."

W-Wait, _whaaaat_! ? Hope beat me to it! ? But earlier today, he was encouraging me to ask her and. . .

Wow. I guess I _am_ the idiot.

* * *

**A Wishful Thought:** XD LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. Alright, I'm not even sure what I did here. XD I just really wanted to get this chapter out, sooo. . . . ;D

POINTS FOR ROXAS SUDDENLY BEING OBSESSED WITH NAMINE, FINALLY GETTING TO WHAT WAS UP WITH OLETTE, AND MAJORRRRR FORESHADOWING! XD

Haha, I was going to end the chapter with the depressingness of Olette's situation, but then I realized, "Wait! The whole point of the chapter is Roxas asking Namine to the beach!" So I took the opportunity to end the chapter with a brighter note instead. X3

I can't say that I'm completely happy with the chapter, but I hope that you all still found it enjoyable! :D

There's a new poll on my profile. :) Check it out!

I really want to get this out before the night is over, so this is going to be published unedited. ^^;; Please point out any mistakes that you may see to me in your review!

As for the news I was talking about in the first Wishful Thought of the chapter, I have to say that Nonexistent won't be updated as frequently. Alright, I know that you're all thinking that I haven't been updating frequently _at all_, but they're going to be a _bit_ less frequent now. :'( Schoolwork is getting _super_ heavy (CURSE YOU AP BIOOOO!), and I'm the douchebag that stopped updating one of my other stories to update this one more. XP I had released that story long before Nonexistent ever even came to _mind_, and I feel really bad since it's just as popular (if not even _more_ popular) as Nonexistent. So I've decided that I'm going to be alternating from updating Nonexistent, and my Fairy Tail (BEST MANGA EVERRRRR!) story, Never Let Me Go.  
It might take a while, but I hope it doesn't put anyone off that much. :( I'm hoping to still be able to update at least once a month though!

PLEASE _**REVIEW!**_


	15. The Most Wonderful Time of Year, MY ASS

**A Wishful Thought: **WHAAAAT! ? I HAVEN'T UPDATED THIS STORY IN OVER A MONTH _AND_ IT'S ALREADY ON THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER! ? O_O _Daaang_. . .

Anyway, I really do have to apologize for the super late update. I assure you, it wasn't intentional or anything. Stuff just. . . came up, ya know? However, I do have to say that timeline wise, we're a _little_ over halfway through the story. Of course, a bunch of things come near the end that might take _chapters_ for me to cover, so I can't necessarily say that we're halfway content-wise. XD Anyway, I really appreciate all the reviews I've received though. :) They truly do mean a lot!

My reviewers of the last chapter were:

**Oblivion Fantasy****, ****Sackboy023**, **FutureX13****, ****TwinToshiro****, ****Rokunami123****, ****Friedbones****, ****CupcakeLerman****, ****Sato Tadashi****, and ****luv. Roxas****! ** :D YOUR COMMENTS ARE ALL SO DAYMAKING!

Ironically, this "Christmas/Holiday" chapter is probably going to come out around the holiday season. X3 So I'd like to wish you a "Happy Holidays!" before then! :D And I guess we could consider this a Christmas Special. ;D

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: _The Most Wonderful Time of Year, MY ASS._

No one can deny it.

Whether you're Christian or Jewish or Buddhist or Islam or Hindu or... or _Axel_, the fact remains undeniable: The month of December is the best time of the entire year.

No matter what religion you practice, it doesn't diminish the fact that the sense of togetherness is just so freaking _strong_ during the Holiday Season. People are smiling everywhere you turn, everyone is more generous than they usually are, you can bond with your family while you sit around the fireplace and tell crazy stories, the food is just… _awesomer than usual_, and well… the gifts. Yeah, I'm not going to deny that I think that giving gifts is the best part of the whole month.

Oh. I suppose receiving them is fun, too.

Every year I go out of my way to get people the best gifts that I can afford. Sure, I have to tap into my beloved piggybank on numerous occasions to afford some of the things I want to buy, but in the end, it's definitely worth it. Seeing the joy on everyone's faces when they rip open a neatly-wrapped present is just _day making_. Zack used to joke around about how Sora and I always switched personalities around this time of year. According to him, I became more "joyful" while Sora became more "selfish."

Was he implying that I'm usually _selfish_ on a daily basis?

Psh, what am I talking about? Of course not.

But you see, the thing about this year is that Christmas is just so much more… _complicated_.

I mean, they shouldn't be, right? My family has this new "money-saving" policy that says we don't have to get each other gifts for Christmas. We pretty much just do gift exchanges with our friends and leave it at that. _Sora_ might think it's a stupid idea, but my mom is totally right. In her words, "Being together as a happy family is a gift enough for all of us, don't you think?"

Of course, Sora's immediate response was a muttered, "I swear, the holidays just screw up everyone's minds."

This resulted in the spazzing of my mother, my crazy rambling about how the holidays are about giving and not receiving, and Sora's whining about how he wouldn't be getting as much gifts anymore.

The further result was an icepack on Sora's head, my mother scrubbing her tongue with soap, and me laughing like a crazed idiot.

But that's not the point.

My point is that I only have to buy _one_ gift for_ one_ person in this _entire_ world.

It doesn't sound _that_ bad, right? I'd just get to spend all of my money to buy them something completely, utterly epic that would bring them to tears.

So when I reached into Xion's sparkly Santa hat to see who I would end up buying a present for, I wasn't worried in the least bit. No, of course not!

I didn't start freaking out until I unfolded the neon green piece of paper, and read the dreaded name in the cute, little cursive writing.

_Naminé Soto_.

Of course. Of _course_! Just my _freaking_ luck.

And you see, that's the story of why it's the day before we leave for the beach and I still have no idea _whatsoever_ as to what I should buy for Naminé.

It's also the reason why I'm pacing the mall, literally dragging around a delirious Sora, a bitchy Hope, and for some reason, some _strange reason _that I _still _don't understand, Axel.

Don't… Just don't ask.

"Ngh…Sleep…Need... Sleeeeeeep…"

Hope, who was independent enough to manage to walk by himself, shot Sora, who I was still dragging on the floor, a slightly concerned look, before a whine escaped his lips, "What are we even _doing here_, Roxas? I thought you were buying me ice cream!"

"Well, _I_ have some _cream_ I can give you, Hope, but I can't say that there's any _ice_ involved…"

The silver-haired boy paused for a moment to take a look at Axel's rape face, before his features contorted into one full of disgust, "I think I like you better when you're convinced that you own me. And that says a lot."

Axel, who was on his stomach and somehow managing to move forward with minimum muscle movement let out a low grunt, "It's because of the lack of coffee, man."

"I see… So when you don't get your daily dose of coffee, you turn into a creepy, gay, rapist and or pedophile?"

"You betcha. That's how I had butt sex with Justin Bieber."

We all immediately stopped what we were doing to stare at Axel with mixed expressions of shock, disgust, horror, and disbelief. In response, the pyromaniac simply managed a minute shrug, "What can I say? Not having coffee _does things_ to your brain, man."

I turned my gaze to Hope, whose eye was twitching slightly. Slowly, he brought his gaze to mine, "I vote that we buy Axel coffee. As soon as possible."

From his position at my feet, Sora raised his arm slightly, "I second that. Buy me some too while you're at it."

I groaned, "All we're here for is to find Naminé a Christmas present. It won't take long if you guys would pick yourselves off the floor and actually _help_ me."

Axel huffed, "It's not _my_ fault that you're not creative enough to buy something nice for your lady friend. Can't you just get her like… Birth Control or something?"

Before I could even _think_ of a reaction, Hope beat me to it with a hard smack to the back of Axel's head. "_Ouch_! The hell was that for?"

Hope's eyes merely narrowed and I'm _pretty sure_ that he would've murdered the psychotic college student if I didn't make a move to step in, "Hey, hey. Let's calm down. Uh… Why don't you come with me into Starbucks, Hope?"

The silver-haired boy shot another glare at Axel who was now trying to convince the semi-conscious Sora to lick his foot, before rolling his eyes and giving me a nod. "Yeah, let's go. You're getting me something too, right?"

I let out a sigh, "I wasn't planning on it, but why not?"

A large grin appeared on the teenager's voice as he turned his head to face me, "Then let's get going."

Starbucks wasn't actually that far from where we had left the two lazyasses, and we got there in no time. But because it was _Starbucks_, we had to wait in a pretty sizable line. I let out a sigh, at the sight. "Damn, this is gonna take forever…"

Hope, who was already looking up at the menu with an excited gleam in his eye, shot me a spare glance, before his attention returned to the menu above. "You're worrying too much. Buying Nami a present isn't _that_ hard. You're just over-thinking things again."

I frowned. "Easy for you to say. You've known her for like… _ever_."

He rolled his blue-green eyes, before turning his body so that he was facing me directly. "Yeah, and that's why I can tell you this: _You're over-thinking the whole thing._"

I let out a groan, not realizing at the time how high-pitched and whiny I sounded, "That doesn't help at all!"

Hope huffed, before shaking his head, "C'mon, it's not that hard to figure out. Just get her something simple, alright? Naminé isn't really into all that extravagant stuff. As long as it has some sort of meaning, or there was at least some thought put into it, I'm sure that she'll love it. Actually, I think that she doesn't even _like_ expensive things."

I felt myself frown. _Nothing_ _expensive_? But… "Oh… I see…"

His lip twitched upward for a second, but it vanished almost immediately. At the time, it didn't quite register why that had occurred, for I was already freaking out in my brain about what to get the strange new girl. But before we knew it, we were at the front of the line. I'll admit, I was pretty underprepared for ordering, so I quickly scanned the menu for the cheapest things—no way in hell was I going to buy Axel and Sora something even remotely expensive! I was putting my foot down!—but before I could get the words out, Hope beat me to it. "We'll take a Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino, a Caramel Brulée Latte, a Tazo Chai Crème Frappuccino, and…" His bluish green eyes flickered towards me, before he added, "And a Java Chip. While I'm at it, give me three slices of whatever holiday pastry you like the best."

The young woman at the counter blinked for a moment in surprise, but the surprise was quickly replaced by a large, honest grin. "Alrighty then! Coming right up!" I wasn't sure if I was imagining it, but right before she turned, she sent a wink our way.

But who knows? I was barely paying attention to her.

I had been searching the menu for all the prices of the things that Hope was ordering while he ordered them, and as soon as the cashier left, I let my disapproval show. "Hope! Why the hell did you order all of that?"

Though I was sure that my tone sounded pretty serious, he didn't even look at me while he responded, and continued playing with the gift cards, "Double Chocolaty Chip just sounds like something Sora would enjoy. Axel needs coffee, so I figured he'd love a latte and Caramel Brulée sounds freaking _awesome_. I've always wanted to try one of the Tazo drinks, and you?" He paused for a moment, before shrugging his shoulders, "Well you weren't saying anything and I figured that you seemed like the type of person that would like a Java Chip. But hell, I have no idea if I made a decent choice. I'm more of a Panera person, ya know?"

I felt my eye twitch slightly, and I couldn't help but feel thankful that Hope wasn't staring at me. I wanted to scold him for ordering Axel and Sora things that were _obviously_ not the cheapest things on the menu, but I figured that that would make me sound… well, _cheap_. "Well… why only _three_ pastries then? Why not four?"

"Because you're not getting one."

My eyes widened in surprise, but before I could respond, the young woman came back with a single drink in hand, placing it neatly in front of me, "One Java chip Frappuccino!" Her warm, brown eyes flickered towards Hope, "Right?"

Hope left the gift cards alone long enough to return her grin, "Right."

Her smile seemed to widen, and she turned to leave once more.

My brows were now furrowed in deep confusion, "W-Wait, what the hell? What happened to everything else you ordered? I'm the one _paying_ for everything, so the least you can do is tell me what's going on!"

"You see? That's where you're wrong."

I felt my head pound as it scrambled to _attempt_ to follow Hope's train of thought. "_What_?"

Hope picked up the drink that had been set on the counter, and thrust it into my hands, "You're wrong, because _I'm_ paying for this."

I blinked, "I'm so confused."

The silver-haired teen let out a sigh, "_I_ am going to bring all this stuff back to Axel and Sora, and _I_ am going to distract them while _you_ take your frappuccino and buy Naminé her present, because God knows that if you keep dragging Axel and Sora around, you're going to get _nothing_ accomplished."

"B-But… I still don't know what to get her!"

Hope facepalmed himself, "Come _on_, Roxas. It's not that hard. _Think_ a little."

And so I did.

And when the answer finally came to me, I felt like a complete idiot.

"Oh! So I should get her—"

Hope silenced me with a shove, "Yeah, yeah. Stop talking and go _buy_ _it_ already! You'll be lucky if you can even find one that's still being _sold_."

"R-Right!" I began my run out of the café, before coming to a halt at the door. "And Hope?" The young man in question turned, and stepped out of line slightly so that he could see what I wanted. I felt my lips curve upwards in a smile, "Thanks."

He looked at me curiously for a moment, before returning my gesture with a grin that seemed somewhat halfhearted.

I didn't stay to think about it though, for I was already halfway out the door, running to _that_ store to buy Naminé her Christmas present.

* * *

"There. All done."

I released the red silk ribbon from my delicate grasp, a large smile still on my face. A perfect bow on top of the perfectly wrapped snowflake covered wrapping paper. "What do you think? Do you think she'll like it?"

Sora, who was reclining on my bed and halfheartedly humming along to a random song, glanced at me, probably taking in my excitement, before he broke the gaze. "I think she'll love it…"

Instantly, I felt my heart sink. "You're lying to me."

My twin sat up in my bed, a frown on his face, "I wouldn't say that."

I let out a huff, "Well you don't sound very convincing."

"It's just… It's so _simple_, don't you think?"

I couldn't help but let out a sigh. Sora was right. Despite what Hope had been insisting, this gift seemed so… _lame_ compared to gifts that I had given in previous years. It just didn't feel… _right_. "I know… That's what I was thinking, too."

Sora's frown seemed to deepen, and he got out of the bed to sit next to me on the floor and give me a reassuring pat on the back, "Well, it doesn't matter if it's simple, right? As long as she loves it. And… And you always tell me that it's the _thought_ that counts, not necessarily just the gift itself, right?" I looked up at him to see a hopeful smile on his features.

"I know, I know… But…"

"But…?"

"I…I wanted to get Naminé something _really_ awesome, you know?"

As I had expected, a smirk came to rest upon Sora's features. "Hum. And why is that?"

I quickly evaded his gaze, already feeling like I had dug myself into a hole to deep to crawl myself out of. "N-No reason."

"You're lying to me, Roxas."

"Am not!"

"Just tell me the truth, bro. I can help you out. I have _experience_."

"Yeah. Of course you do. Must I remind you of the _current_ state of your love life?" The full meaning of the words I had muttered dawned on me, and I quickly turned my gaze back to my brother. It was then that I knew I had crossed the line. His mouth was agape, and the hurt was evident in your eyes. I felt my heart clench as his eyes hardened and fixed themselves on me in a venomous glare. "Hey, look… I didn't mean that."

My brother simply "Hmph!"d, before standing up and brushing off his pants. "The gang should be arriving in ten minutes so that we can all go to the beach. Make sure you have all your stuff packed."

He began his stride towards the door, and was about to twist the doorknob before I felt the words escape my lips involuntarily, "I-I think I love her!"

Immediately, an awkward silence took over my room. Sora's back was still turned to me, so I couldn't see his expression. I felt the dread dawning in on me at the absolute _horror_ of my claim. Before Sora could say anything, I had already placed my hands on either side of my head, feeling shakes and chills engulf me. "Holy shit… Holy shit… Holy shit… Holy shit… HOLY SHIT!"

To interrupt my mantra, Sora had thrown one of my old action figures at me, hitting me square in the face.

"The hell, Sora! ?"

My brother looked sort of confused and out of it as he stared at me, before he muttered, "I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to be happy for you or angry at you, but throwing something felt like the right thing to do."

I felt my expression contort into one of pure bewilderment. I was _so_ confused.

With a sigh, my brother walked back to me, and took his place on top of my bed. "Man… You know, I always thought that _I_ was the dumb one."

That's because you are!

"But after hearing you say that, I think I might be wrong."

His ocean blue eyes met mine, and there was something in them that I found I just couldn't name. "Roxas, you're just _saying_ that. You don't really know what love is."

I felt like exploding. "You're not making any sense! Weren't _you _the one that was trying to get me to admit my feelings for her! ?"

Sora had an exasperated expression on his face, as though he was trying to explain something to a child, but the child had no hope of understanding whatsoever. "_Love_ isn't the only feeling out there! Do you even _know_ what love means?"

I opened my mouth to retort, but I found that I had no words.

Seeing this, Sora opened his mouth, and it seemed like words just began flowing out. "Love is knowing everything about a person, and finding that even though they've made mistakes in the past, you still care for them so much that it hurts. Love is risking everything you have, every fiber of your being, just to keep someone happy, even if it means that you have to suffer. Love is dangerous and causes countless wars and deaths, but the feeling of being in love and being loved in return for just even a single _moment_ is worth it. Love is a huge risk, because either the person will love you back, or they'll just turn you down. But the emotion is just _so strong_ that it's a risk worth taking. When you're in love with someone, all the pain in the world seems to disappear, as long as you're with that person. You feel like you're flying whenever you see them, and whenever you're apart… You feel like dying." At this point, what had started out as frenzied words, became slower, more careful ones, "Love… is forgiving someone no matter what stupid shit they do. And love… Makes you do tons of crazy shit, too…"

My eyes were wide as I stared at my brother, and I couldn't stop the surprise from taking over my features.

Why was Sora… crying?

"It's _more_ than just mumbling those three words before you go to bed, Roxas. It's the little things you do every day whenever you care about someone." When he finally met my gaze and saw the confusion written all over me, he managed a small smile. "You still don't get it, do you?"

Slowly, I shook my head; still not entirely sure of what was happening.

"Love… is an overwhelming sort of thing. It takes over your body, and blurs all your rational thoughts. You stop thinking straight, and your thoughts seem to only circle around that person you love… When you tell someone that you love them… You're promising that you'll always be there for them. That you'll _die_ if it means protecting them." He paused, looking at me directly. And in his eyes, there was something powerful. Something that made it hard for me to look at him in the eyes.

So I looked away.

And as soon as I did, Sora let out a sad sigh, "Sorry, I guess I'm getting worked up for nothing." He let out a small chuckle, "I should've said something earlier when I was trying to get you to admit feelings for her. It was mean for me to confuse you into thinking you love her."

Hesitantly, I looked back at him, but his eyes seemed focused on something else, "Sora… I don't understand..."

That small smile that seemed to be so much _more_ than just a small smile came back. "You will. One day."

* * *

"You have everything you need, right?"

"Y-Yeah! All in here." I said, trying my best to sound excited as I patted the large duffel bag I was carrying.

There was no need to bring bigger bags, especially since we would only be staying at the beach for three days. This would be our third year spending some "Christmas time" with the gang at Selphie's beach house on Destiny Islands, and perhaps, even our last year. Who knew where we would all go for college? For all we know, we would each go to different colleges all over the freaking galaxy. Which is why we vowed to make this year's trip to the beach the best one yet. We even invited more people into our tradition to increase the fun! You know, the more the merrier!

Of course, we'd be back before Christmas Eve to spend the _real_ Christmas with our mom. Though if it ends up _anything_ like what happened with Thanksgiving, then I don't know _what_ I'll do.

Sora grinned at me as though our previous conversation hadn't affected him at all. "Good. Cuz they'll be here soon."

I forced a large smile at him, before looking away. Suddenly, Sora _wasn't_ the doofus brother that I had learned to take responsibility for. After the words he had shared with me, he suddenly _felt_ like the older brother he was. Out of _nowhere_, he seemed to become the one that would be taking care of me, and dare I say it, he even seemed… _wise_.

Holy shit, I can't believe that I just called my brother that.

"Hey… Where's mom?"

Sora blinked as though he had just noticed her absence. "Hm… She's probably in her room catching some sleep. We'll wake her up before we leave to say bye."

I nodded, and before I knew it everyone had arrived.

Riku, Hayner, Pence, Kairi, Naminé, Hope, Olette, Tidus, Xion, Selphie, Vanille, Yuna, Rikku, and even Irvine. Axel, Demyx, and Larxene said they couldn't make it this year—something about an important meeting with the Organization. Still, including Sora and I, that would make _sixteen_ of us!

So hell yeah, we were still going to have an awesome time.

But of course, our first issue would be _getting_ to the beach.

Out of all of us, only Riku and Irvine had cars. And of course, each of their cars only sat five people max.

"Um… So who wants to volunteer sitting in the trunk?"

Selphie punched Tidus in the shoulder, and judging by the sound of the impact, it was a pretty hard punch. "Tidus, don't be stupid!"

The tan boy merely shrugged, "Unless someone comes up with a better idea, then that's all I've got."

"We could make some people sit on the floor of the car?"

Hayner shook his head, "No, I'm pretty sure that's illegal."

Sora huffed, and crossed his arms behind his head, "So? Us drinking alcohol is illegal, but we do it anyway."

"Point taken. But do we _really _trust Riku enough to keep us out of an accident?"

Riku scowled, "Nice to know that even after all these years, you _still _don't trust me."

Hayner smirked, "I only don't trust you because _I care_."

Olette flinched, but no one seemed to notice.

"We could try sitting on top of each other?" We all turned to look at Pence with different levels of disapproval. "Right. Bad idea."

It was silent for a moment as we all tried to think of some other idea, before Xion spoke up, "How about we try smushing together in the seats first? We're all pretty tiny, I'm sure we could probably sit four or five people in the back row of each car. It'll just be really uncomfortable."

We all nodded slowly, until Hope pointed out, "I doubt that five of us can stay smushed together that tightly for the four hour drive."

Tidus grinned as he exclaimed, "I say we fit the spare people in the trunk, then!"

I won't lie; he actually got some laughs out of that.

And so, we began strategizing how we would all fit into the two cars. But as we continued to talk it over, something finally dawned on me: "Where are we going to fit in all our stuff?"

It was silent for a moment, before my front yard erupted in screams and groans of frustration.

"Okay, you know what? We're going to have to ask someone to lend us a car, or we'll just have to switch out Riku and Irvine's cars for minivans."

Immediately, identical expressions of disgust arose on both Riku and Irvine's faces. "As in those _hideous_ things that soccer moms drive? I think I'll pass on that one."

"Agreed."

"Come _on_, it won't be _that_ big of a deal. It'll all be worth it once we get to the beach, right?"

The two mumbled something that I couldn't comprehend.

Feeling a little agitated at this point, I bitterly said, "Well, unless some flashy sports car appears out of nowhere, then I think you both will have to settle for finding and driving some minivans."

Just then, a black Convertible Porsche parked in front of my house.

At first, it was quiet as we all took in the irony of the arrival of the new car, along with my statement, but it was quickly followed by the whoops and cheers of my friends, along with a wolf whistle or two. And in Irvine's case, a jolly, "I call driving _that_ car!"

I could feel my eye twitch. "You can't be serious…"

Of course, the moment was ruined when the driver's side door popped open, and a tall man with tousled black hair stepped out. He had dark shades on, along with a black uniform. It took a while, but it eventually dawned on me that it was the uniform of one of Shinra's elite First Class SOLDIERs. He slowly made his way towards us, and I noticed that there was a large sword strapped to his back. In fact, the car, the sword, and the _man_ all seemed strikingly familiar.

I should've realized then what exactly was going on, but I didn't.

Perhaps you'll understand better if I explained to you what Shinra even _is_. It's basically what we call our government here in Twilight Town and the surrounding area. Shinra is a powerful government, and a force that you can't take for granted. They're very good at intimidating rival worlds, all while keeping their citizens safe and protected. There are different branches under Shinra's military force, SOLDIER being the highest of them all. SOLDIER itself is split into three: First Class, Second Class, and Third Class. And I'm pretty sure that from that information, you can figure out the hierarchy of that entire division. The other branch of the military force is the Turks, though I'm not sure if you could really classify them as a military force. They're more like an investigative bureau, compromised of only the elite. The less important force is made up of mainly foot-soldiers, or Infantrymen. They're not all too important, but I guess the more the merrier in Shinra's eyes.

I know, I know. Right now, you're thinking that they sound great. But that's the thing. They _sound_ great, but a lot of people say that they aren't. Rumors fly around and around Shinra, and most of the time, the rumors aren't good. People say that once you get yourself involved with Shinra, there's no way out. You think that you escape their grasp, but they keep close watch on every single one of their former subordinates. The Turks, who are considered the military force that is entrusted with the most information, is said to kill anyone of their members that even _thinks_ about abandoning their ranks.

That being said, though Shinra intimidates all who oppose them and protects those who live under their guard, it is the citizens themselves that harbor the most fear of the company.

The young man that had stepped out of his car raised one of his gloved hands to remove his dark sunglasses, revealing deep blue eyes that, though extremely familiar, seemed so different at the same time. He looked around, puzzled for a moment, before asking, "What's going on?"

I didn't have to look at Sora to know how upset he was. "What do you want, _Zack_?"

The man in question flinched at the venom that Sora's voice contained, and he let out a sigh. "Answer my question first. _Please_."

I couldn't help but let my eyebrow quirk. Why did he come here so suddenly? Even when my mom had made it clear that she didn't want to see him? Even more importantly, _why was he wearing his old uniform_?

Knowing that my brother was going to make no move to give our teacher a straightforward answer, I took the lead, "We're getting ready to head over to Destiny Islands."

At my words, Zack seemed to freeze in shock. "Does your mother know about this?"

I frowned, "Of course. Why wouldn't she?"

At this point, he seemed a little out of it. The glasses that he had been holding in his hand dropped to the pavement, and his eyes seemed to harden. "Where is she?"

For some reason, the simplicity of the question caught me off-guard, and before I could say anything, Sora responded, "Why should we tell you?"

He seemed to crack a little, as a frown came onto his features from Sora's obvious mistrust of him. I could feel the awkward tension in the air, and before I knew it, the words had already escaped my lips, "She's inside. Follow me."

"_Roxas_!" Sora hissed, clearly not pleased that I was allowing Zack to see our mother. But I ignored him, and continued leading Zack inside the house. I could feel it, and I couldn't help but wonder why Sora couldn't.

We already knew that mom was keeping something from us, and it was obvious that Zack thought it was something we needed to know. How could Sora _not_ be curious?

Based on the angry steps that were being taken behind me, I could tell that Sora had decided to follow me in after all. A small part of me felt bad, especially since we had basically decided to leave all of our guests alone in out front yard, but I quickly shook the thought away, telling myself that solving this mystery was currently our top priority.

Still, I couldn't stop myself from hesitating as I reached for the doorknob. I turned my head slightly, just enough so that I could see both Zack and Sora out of the corner of my eye. Sora still had a scowl on his face, making it obvious that he still wasn't happy with this decision, while Zack's expression was completely unreadable. Before they could notice that I was staring at them, I turned the doorknob, and quietly made my way into the room.

As Sora had guessed, our mother was indeed catching up on sleep. Her long, wavy brown hair was spread around her messily, and for once, her delicate features seemed at peace. Before Sora and I knew it, Zack was already sitting at our mother's bedside, using one of his gloved hands to carefully move some stray hair away from her face. At this gesture, a small smile appeared on our mother's face, and she leaned into his hand while raising her own to lightly rest on his. From where we were standing, it was impossible to see Zack's expression, but I couldn't help but imagine the immense sadness that must've been expressed on his features as he let out a broken, "_Aerith_."

At the mere mention of her name, my mother's bright green eyes flashed open. She looked dazed, but as her eyes met Zack's she flinched away from him, quickly moving her gaze towards the two of us, "_Zack_!" Her eyes were wide, and for some reason that I couldn't comprehend at the time, she looked frightened.

"Aerith… Please." Zack had moved his hand to cup her face delicately, much to the shock of my mother. She had still been averting his gaze, but I guess the gesture was too much for her, for she met his stare once more.

And when she did, she let out a horrified gasp, "Z-Zack… W-What happened?" Her green eyes flickered up and down his body, her expression contorting into one of full terror, "N-No… Not you too…"

"I have no choice, Aerith… It's impossible for a SOLDIER to leave Shinra's ranks. You should know that by now."

My mother was shaking her head now, and tears were streaming down her face much to the shock of Sora and I. What… What was going on? "I-It's not fair… Why… Why did they have to do_ it_?" Zack's hand dropped from her face, and he had already stood up from his bedside, back already turned to her. He moved as though to leave the room, but reflexively, both Sora and I moved to block the exit. Not like we needed to, for our mom's pale hand shot out to grab his arm. "Why… Why did they have to alter our memories?"

At this, I felt my body run cold. Zack himself shut his eyes, as though upset that his meeting with my mother had to come up with this. And I'll admit it, this confused me greatly. Wasn't he the one who had come here in the first place? So why was he acting like he didn't want to be here at all?

"Aerith… You know I can't tell you that."

"Of course you can! But for some reason, you _won't_!" Zack flinched at her tone, and turned to face her again. "I… I know it's not your fault, but… I… I just want… to understand…" There was an awkward silence in the room as she waited for Zack to answer her, but the thing is, he _didn't_. At this, my mom choked on a sob, and hung her head sadly, "Then why… Why did you come here?"

Zack was purposely avoiding my mother's gaze, but he still muttered a quiet, "I figured that my appearance would be enough to make you tell Sora and Roxas the truth..." At this, I felt myself flinch. I was so confused… This wasn't making any sense. "And… I guess I wanted to say goodbye."

He turned to move towards the exit one more time, my mother's hand easily losing its hold on his arm. He had made it halfway towards where Sora and I were blocking the door, but before he could continue, my mother's broken voice spoke up, "How can I tell them the truth… When _I_'m not even sure of it at this point?"

Zack was quiet, and he stared down at his shoes as he responded to her, "Tell them what you know…"

"HOW CAN I WHEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S REAL OR FAKE ANYMORE! ?"

The SOLDIER in the room angrily spun around to face her, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK _I _CAN DO! ? THEY HAVE ME UNDER CHAIN AND LEASH, AERITH! You _know_ what they'll do if I disobey orders!"

My mom was clutching the sides of her head now, shaking as tears streamed angrily down her face. Hesitantly, she raised her head to look at him, her broken stare enough to make Sora and I feel even more awkward and confused at the exchange that was occurring before us. "W-Why… Why are you lying to me?"

Zack seemed absolutely shocked at her claim, and his voice seemed to quiet itself, "Aerith… You know I would never lie to you."

My mother was still shaking as she whispered, "But the Zack I knew… Would _never _keep the truth from me."

I saw him flinch minutely, before he slowly walked back to my mother's bedside. I'll admit it; I was really anticipating Zack's response. Though the two were both keeping secrets, it still seemed to me that Zack was the one who wanted to share the information. But shockingly enough, it seemed like he was only staring at my mom. Sora and I watched as the fright and anger in my mother's eyes morphed into inconsolable sadness. She rose to her knees on the bed so that she could stare into at the man before her directly. "Your eyes… So they brainwashed you, too…"

"I… I've only just gotten my memory back."

My mother stared at him blankly, before engulfing him in a sudden hug. Zack didn't seem to be expecting it, and he ended up stumbling back slightly. Sora and I could hear the manic sobs of my mother as she embraced him tightly while Zack rubbed her back soothingly.

I felt lost and confused, but not knowing what else to do, I turned my gaze towards my twin brother.

Sora's eyes were wide, yet there was an emotion in them that I couldn't decipher, "Someone… Someone tell me what the hell is going on!"

The two adults in the room turned to us in confusion, as if completely forgetting our presence. "Sora…"

"Why are you keeping all of these secrets from us, mom! ? It's obvious that this secret deal is a bigger problem then you were letting on!"

My mom, who had finally stopped crying, frowned at his words. "Sora, listen to me…"

"Only if you tell me what the big issue is!"

She hesitated for a moment, before turning her eyes to Zack. He hesitated for a moment, but managed to mumble, "Do what you think is right, Aerith."

My mother closed her eyes for a second in thought, before leading Zack towards where Sora and I stood. "Tell Zack goodbye."

That was the point at which _I_ cracked, "W-Why! ? Where is he going! ?"

Zack's eyes suddenly seemed foreign and unearthly, and the fact that his gaze was trained on me was making me uncomfortable. Thankfully, his stare flickered towards my mother to see her next move. There was a sad smile on her face as she murmured, "Goodbye, Zack…"

He quirked an eyebrow at her curiously, "Aerith?"

"Stay safe…"

His curious gaze instantly hardened at her words, "Right. Roxas? Sora?" As each of our names were called, we couldn't help but turn our heated stares towards him. He forced a slow smile, one that didn't even _compare_ to his real ones, before affectionately tousling our hair with his hands. "I'll miss you."

I felt my insides drop from the feeling of his touch. It wasn't Zack-like at all. His gentle, caring touch was suddenly replaced by a touch that almost… _stung_.

The feeling of it caught both Sora and I off-guard, and before we could fully register what was happening, he slipped between the two of us, and out the door.

As soon as this dawned on us, we both quickly turned towards the exit, getting ready to sprint after him to find out what the big deal was. But before we could even _move_, our mother stepped in front of the doorway, blocking our departure.

"Mom. Get _out of the way_."

She ignored Sora's words, and merely shook her head. "Zack thinks I'm going to tell you boys the truth now." Both of us froze at her words, and I could feel my heart beginning to beat faster, "But… I think I'll have to lie to him."

I could feel the sudden heat of Sora's glare, "Why aren't you telling us what's going on! ? It's obviously important!"

My mother averted her gaze from us, "Because the two of you aren't ready." I could feel the anger and frustration boiling up inside me, and I could also tell that Sora was experiencing the exact same emotion. But before either of us could make a move, she resumed speaking, "I'll tell you one day, and unfortunately, that day is drawing closer and closer… But not now." She shifted uncomfortably, until her eyes appeared fixed on her feet, "However… I forbid you to go to Destiny Islands this year—" The two of us immediately opened our mouths to begin letting out our screams of frustration, but it seemed like she wasn't done yet, "—and I forbid you from talking about this topic any further."

"YOU'RE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE!"

"WHY ARE YOU BEING SO UNFAIR! ?"

At this point, she had commenced shaking minutely, not that Sora and I noticed at the time. We were too busy being upset. However, we did quiet down when she raised her teary eyes at us, "If you won't do it for me, then do it for _your_ _father_."

And I found that I suddenly couldn't refuse her.

* * *

It was my mother who broke the news to all of our guests that had been waiting in our front yard. Sora and I were each at a loss of words, and had locked ourselves up in our own separate rooms.

We refused to come out for anything but small portions of food.

My head was reeling, my face flushed, my chest pounding as hard as physically possible. I forced my eyes shut, trying to piece everything together. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't manipulate the clues to reveal the big picture. And it was making me horribly angry.

I didn't get it. _Why_ couldn't I get it! ? It felt like everything was in front of me, but yet…

It also felt like I was missing the most important piece of the puzzle.

I clutched my head, begging the thoughts to leave me. It was almost Christmas, there was _no point_ in wallowing in my sorrows.

But the days passed quickly as I remained absorbed in my thoughts. And soon, _almost Christmas_ turned into Christmas itself.

As the merry jingling of bells erupted from my phone, I felt my heart ache. I glanced at it for a moment, before hesitantly picking it up.

Twelve o'clock midnight, Christmas Day.

I allowed a quiet sob to rack my body as I muttered the words, "Merry fucking Christmas."

* * *

"Cheers!" The glasses of champagne clinked together joyously, before quickly being swallowed down by all those with drink.

In the small room, fourteen people had congregated together. The lights were dim, exaggerating the glow of the fireplace and the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree. Some of the faces in the room were bright with excitement, while others looked more sober, and even sad.

"Cheers…" A girl clad in white murmured softly, before setting the untouched champagne on the coffee table that was nearest to her. She felt awkward and out of place with the bunch, and even her cousin, who usually seemed depressed and morose managed to crack a smile or two as she danced around with the rest of her friends.

Subconsciously, the lonely girl clutched the locket around her neck, closing her eyes as though reliving a past memory.

"It's too bad Sora and Roxas couldn't come… I wonder what's up with them."

"Yeah, they didn't even pick up their phones!"

"Or answer any of their texts!"

"Or respond to any of their messages on Facebook!"

"Oh well, I'm sure they're having the time of their lives, too!"

"Oh no! What about their gifts for Secret Santa?"

A girl clad in a bright orange frilly dress with hair that seemed to flip upwards at the ends waved away the concern of her fellow party-goers. "All taken care of! I took the liberty of leaving their gifts on their front porch. Whenever they get their lazy bums out of bed, they'll get their present!"

Drunken whoops were her main response.

"But what about the gifts that theywere supposed to _give_?"

It was silent for a moment before a silver-haired boy shook his head, a large smile on his face, "Don't worry about that either! I saw their mom a couple of hours ago, and she handed me their gifts to give out."

More drunken hollers.

"Alright! A toast for Christmas! Hip hip…"

"HOORAY!"

Laughter continued to fill the air.

Before long, many of the party-goers were getting ready to take their leave. And so, the hostess of the night, the same young woman in the bright, frilly dress, took the liberty of passing out the gifts. Eagerly, many of her patrons ripped open the wrapping, all of them excited to see what they had been gifted with this year.

The quiet girl in her simple white dress didn't follow their lead though. Carefully, she untied the silk ribbon hat had been so carefully tied, setting it gently in her lap. She delicately manipulated the wrapping paper, revealing a large, rather plain box. She couldn't help but cock her head curiously at the object, but nonetheless, forced the container open to reveal the contents.

Her eyes widened as she saw what lay inside, and she carefully raised the gift out of its constraints.

"Do you like it?"

She looked up to see her longtime friend with the kind, bluish green eyes staring down at her with a large smile on his face.

Her expression immediately brightened, as she asked, "Did you get this for me, Hope?"

The smile was still on his face as he shook his head, "Not me. _Roxas_ did."

The young girl blinked in surprise, "But how… How did he know?"

Her friend shrugged, before taking a seat next to her on the wooden floor, "I don't think he does."

She nodded carefully, and then allowed her eyes to flicker back towards the soft object in her arms, clutching it tightly to her chest, and letting the smile on her face return once more.

The stuffed rabbit that was lost to the disastrous flames oh-so-many years ago. In her arms lay what seemed to be an _exact_ replica.

"Merry Christmas… Roxas."

* * *

**A Wishful Thought: **What was meant to be a joyous, uplifting chapter with tints of angst came up with a practically _pure angst_ chapter.I mean,_ holy Jesus._

Cuppie, I know that you're not the biggest fan of POV changes, but it was the only way I could think of to reveal what Roxas ended up getting Naminé in the end, so I hope it doesn't irk you _that_ badly this time. XP

You know, now that I think of it, I think this would've come out less angsty if I had included this one scene that I decided to take out in the end. The crew _didn't_ end up going to the beach (partially because they felt bad that for some reason Sora and Roxas couldn't come anymore, and partially because Riku and Irvine refused to drive minivans. XD), and what was originally going to happen was that instead of just throwing the party at Selphie's house, they were going to show up on Sora and Roxas' doorstep singing Christmas carols off-key, thus bringing the party to _them_. But it then dawned on me that it's really awkward to have Aerith there the whole time in her room or something, and Roxas and Sora are too busy being all thinky and depressed that they _probably_ wouldn't be that appreciative of the gesture.

But, ah well.

… Do I still get points for confusing you all with Aerith and Zack's exchange? 8D Did it work? XD I ended up rewriting that part over and over again, but I eventually gave up, so what you read up there is what I ended up sticking with.

Overall, I can't say that I'm too happy with this chapter. It seems kind of rushed. But maybe it's just me? I dunno anymore, man~

ANYWHO. **HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF MY AWESOME READERS OUT THERE!**

And perhaps, as a Christmas present, you could leave me a review? ;D


	16. Life Sucks

**A Wishful Thought: **Why am I so bad at updating stories? I will never know. ToT I blame life.

ANYWAY, I guess that it's easy for me to say that the story finally started picking up last chapter, huh? XD There's not much for me to say on this chapter. Other than apologizing for this incredibly late update, of course.

I have some really happy news, though: I'VE RECEIVED MAIL FROM OXFORD, CAMBRIDGE, L'ACADÉMIE DE PARIS, L'ACADÉMIE DE FRANCE, LA ACADEMIE DE ESPAÑA, PRINCETON, COLUMBIA, AND THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. OH SHIT, YOU GUYS, I PRACTICALLY PEED MYSELF WHEN I SAW THE PACKETS. :'D It's nothing big like "OMFG, COME TO OUR SCHOOL. NOW." It's more like, "We are interested in you, and are interested in keeping track of your progression through high school. For the time being, we'd like to offer you a position in our elite Summer Programs…"

It's too bad that I can't go to any of them. -_-;;

OH. AND MEGACON IS TOMORROW, SO I NEED TO UPDAT E THIS BEFORE THEN. LAKFJAL;KFJALKJ  
I'M GOING TO MEET TOM FELTON AND VIC MIGNOGNA, YOU GUYS.

BUT WHO CARES ABOUT MY INSIGNIFICANT LIFE! XD Let's get on with the story!

I'd like to thank: **TwinToshiro****, ****Jarm957****, ****Oblivion fantasy****, ****Someday's Future Dreamer****, ****jetpackswayses****, ****Poopsickle. Stick****, ****Cupcake Lerman****, **and **Sookdeo ** for all the reviews. It means so much to me, you guys! :'D

Don't own any of the songs here, you guys. :)

**Bold** is when the main singer is singing.  
_Italics_ is when the backup singer(s) are singing.  
_**Bold Italics**_ is when the main singer is singing with the backup singer(s).

Oh. And remember how I said that Battle of the Bands wasn't actually all that important to the story, but that it would tie in later and be really important? Well, that time is now. ;D

Now, since I owe you this chapter, I won't hold you from it any longer. Here's the next chapter of Nonexistent!

* * *

I don't consider myself an optimist and I don't consider myself a pessimist.

I don't worry too much when it comes to emotions or the lack thereof.

I don't care much about the future and the past is something that only matters remotely.

But hell if I know anything. Everything I know feels so screwed up.

I mean, I'm not even sure if I can trust my own _mother_ anymore.

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: Life Sucks.

_Date- The end of January?_

_Terra/Aqua/Lightning/Vanitas: I haven't seen them since the last round of Battle of the Bands. I'm seeing them tonight again though. Congratulations to us, we somehow made it to the second round._

_Demyx: Clueless as ever._

_Larxene: I think she's still in the middle of initiation to become a member of the Organization._

_Axel: . . . . . . . . . . ._

_Uncle Cid/Tifa/Cloud: Only see them at school. And I think that they're trying to ignore me as much as your teachers possible can._

_Kairi: Having issues with Sora. Kissed me for some reason I still have yet to understand._

_Hayner: Having issues with Olette. The idiot's too idiotic to do anything about it though._

_Olette: Grandmother died. I think she's living in the Land of Departure now._

_Pence: Utterly normal. _

_Riku: There's some kind of tension between Xion and him, but hell if I know what it is._

_Xion: There's some kind of tension between Riku and her, but hell if I know what it is._

_Selphie: Still stalking Irvine. I'm surprised he hasn't requested a restraining order yet._

_Tidus: Still obsessing over Yuna. Most likely hopeless._

_Hope: Continues to try and figure out "what's up with me," but I still can't find it in me to tell him. He's been acting… __**suspicious**__ lately._

_Mom: Still acting awkward around us. I. . . I don't know how to act around her anymore._

_Zack: Gone…..?_

_Sora: Going through what I'm going through, and acting like how I'm acting. Lifeless._

_Naminé: I. . . Don't know anymore._

* * *

Cold weather seems almost inescapable. No matter how warmly you try to dress, bitter cold always swarms your body, and you just _can't_ get rid of it.

I let out a sigh, and did my best to convince myself that the frigid air around me just didn't exist. That was pretty easy since I had been pretending that _a lot_ of things didn't exist lately.

But you can't ignore your problems for forever. Which is why I decided to write them down on a pathetic scrap of paper that I found stuffed in the back pocket of my jeans.

How incredibly convenient.

"You're ready, aren't you?"

I wasn't even fazed from the sudden appearance of Sora at my side. I think that over the past few weeks I had become accustomed to having him popping out of nowhere and acting like it was the most normal thing in the entire world.

I grunted in affirmative, and together, we continued down the driveway.

Between the two of us, it was absolutely silent. There was absolutely no conversation going on, because we were each absorbed in our thoughts. And I guess I'm starting to believe in that twin telepathy thing Sora had been talking about the year previous since I felt like I _knew_ that we were thinking the _exact_ same things.

I guess we just weren't speaking about them.

It felt like ages, but eventually we arrived at the Land of Departure.

People were in a frenzy around us while music continued to blast, but Sora and I just forced our way through: we stopped feeling bad about shoving past people a while ago. If we had places to be, we had places to be. It was their fault for getting in the way.

"Oi! Sora, Roxas!"

The two of us let out a mutual sigh, before pivoting on our heels to face the silver-haired boy that was bounding towards us. He wore a black, rather simple Balmain Coat, a crimson red scarf wrapped around his neck, beat-up black Vans, a cup of Starbucks in his left hand, and a shining grin that made me wince.

Holy _shit_. How could he so freaking _happy_?

When he arrived directly in front of us however, his smile seemed to falter. "You guys… You look… _bad_… Is everything alright?"

No. Hell no.

I think he seemed to realize the stupidy of his question, as he quickly changed the subject, "Well, Axel picked a pretty decent song for tonight then." Of course he did. Sora wasn't doing so well when it came to putting on performances for upbeat songs, even with Vanitas trying to talk him into it from the sidelines. It wasn't until we forced Axel to realize this that he finally changed the song: two weeks before our scheduled performance. "I'm sure you guys'll pull it off perfectly!" At our blank looks, his expression turned almost as bleak as ours and he muttered a halfhearted, "I'll bring you to the rest of the group."

We said nothing as we quietly trailed behind him, stepping through the path that he was clearing for us. For some reason, all these people seemed to part like the Red Sea for Hope, which I couldn't help but _not_ understand.

I felt the confusion begin to draw my eyebrows together, and purposely took in the crowd, which I soon realized _wasn't_ just a crowd of random audience-members. No, of course not. We were nearing the makeshift "backstage" area, so most of the people that we were passing were either crew members hired by the Organization or volunteers that were working for the Land of Departure. Yet, all of them were allowing Hope a direct passageway through the precise center of the mass of people.

And on closer inspection, I realized that a majority of them were trying to avoid looking in his direction.

This just wasn't making any sense.

I flickered my eyes towards Sora to see if he was catching any of this, but his expression looked as bored and passive as it usually did nowadays.

A small frown took place on my lips, but I chose to say nothing at the time, despite the fact that my heart was screaming at me to ask questions about pretty much everything.

Thankfully, I was forced out of my thoughts when we finally arrived at our destination, and I was greeted with tired, but forcibly excited expressions, along with a few genuinely ecstatic faces. "Look at who finally decided to show up!"

Sora rolled his eyes before bluntly stating, "Shut up, Tidus."

If it was anyone that _wasn't_ in our close friend group, they probably would've been at least _mildly_ offended, but not Tidus. In fact, he seemed like he didn't even register the carefully laced annoyance in Sora's voice. "No, thank you! Shutting up is _booooring_. And I'm so freaking _excited_!"

My twin raised a single eyebrow at Tidus' obliviousness, but it seemed to quickly settle in that he was speaking to _Tidus_, so of _course_ he wouldn't have noticed the tint in his voice. At the realization of this, my brother allowed a minute smile to grace his features which, though barely a twitch of the lip, lit up his features to extreme levels. Then again, it wasn't that big of an accomplishment since it didn't take much anymore. With the dark bags, miserable blue eyes, pale skin, and generally morose aura, he _definitely_ beat Kairi in the "excessively depressed" department.

Then again, it never really seemed like she was even trying.

Speaking of Kairi… There was no sign of her. Or any of the members of her band. The only familiar faces I saw were those that belonged to Hayner, Riku, Tidus, and of course Hope and Sora. "Where's…?" I allowed myself to trail off as I turned to face Hope and Sora, who were still to my left, thinking that they'd answer me so that I wouldn't have to expend energy using more words.

"—Vanitas?"

I felt my eyebrows furrow together, but before I could say anything, Hope waved away Sora's curiosity, "Probably just busy with all of the acts."

Riku nodded, "Yeah. Out of the one hundred ten people that auditioned, can you believe that we were actually picked to be part of the top fifty? It's pretty miraculous if you ask me."

Hayner simply crossed his arms, "Yeah. I doubt that it'll last for long though."

This statement caused Tidus to promptly whack the back of the brown-eyed boy's head, ignoring the responsive scowl and yell of anger. "Shut up! You'll jinx it!"

The sight was enough to elicit a short chuckle from me, but it quickly cut itself off.

"Axel's co-MC tonight, right?"

"Yeah. I guess that they realized how idiotic it was to let Demyx host the whole thing all by himself."

Tidus erupted in a fit of laughter, before adding on, "There were so many awkward silences during a freaking _concert_ that I guess that they realized that they _had_ to do something about it."

Sora muttered a blunt, "With Axel hosting, there will be anything _but_ silence."

"Nonexistent to the stage? Nonexistent, to the stage."

"Well, here we go you guys!" A large grin was on Hope's face as he threw his arms around Sora and I.

Our main response was a tired grunt.

* * *

"…And that's the story of how Demyx came to be an idiot."

The crowd erupted in laughter, while a certain blonde-haired "jenius" with a gravity-defying mullet glared at his fellow MC on the stage, "H-Hey! That's not nice!"

"Yes. And neither is the world. It's something you'll just have to get used to. I can't hold your hand forever. Especially since I'm not gay that way. And because when I'm busy having sex with—"

Demyx let out a hysterical scream, and immediately sprinted away from Axel, who was cackling like a maniac, while the crowd continued to roar in an unstoppable laughter.

"_Anyway_, I'm not supposed to have favorites, but oh well. The next band has my favorite person in the whole wide world in it!" He paused for a moment, looking around nervously. As though satisfied, he pretended to whisper something to the audience, while talking into the mike, "My favorite _minion_, of course."

"_Axel!_"

His eyes widened, before he stood up a little straighter, awkwardly looking to the upper-right side of the stage, to where I assumed the manager of his mike was. In a low hiss, he asked, "I thought you said she couldn't _hear_ me from where she was! ? I thought you made sure of that!"

A blonde woman with hair that was (for the most part) slicked back stomped onto stage, a plush robe clumsily pulled over her. She grabbed the mike from a still cowering Demyx, before marching up towards Axel, who looked like he was about to shit himself. Her green eyes narrowed into slits as she turned her gaze onto him, "No. I could hear you _loud and clear_, Axel."

The pyromaniac immediately turned his head away from her, so that it looked like he was mumbling to his shoulder when he said, "Oh shit."

Despite all this, the crowd was still eating up. I guess that they were just in love with the psychotic mess that was Axel ohmygawdimonfire. Seeing this, the redhead couldn't help but crack a small smile that somehow managed to even make Larxene twitch her lip upwards. "Well, _whatever_. Without further ado, I present to you, Nonexistent!"

As the stage blackened, the crowd cheered wildly. Although it was probably just for the hell of it. I doubt that they actually remembered which band we were since there had been so many bands that had played last time.

Oh well.

With a minute nod from Sora that we could barely see through the darkness, Hayner and I opened up with our guitar and bass, before Sora started singing, initiating a single spotlight to light up over him.

**Give me any reason to believe,  
'cause I swear I'm done here.  
'Cause I've seen a bigger picture,  
and I'm looking for some answers…**

Tidus hit his drum, and somewhere in the fray, Hope began to play his keyboard as well.

**Tell me that it's worth it 'cause I'm doing all I can to fight it,  
and I've never been this scared,  
and my moment's finally here…**

**Time's racing…**  
_Please slow down…  
_**I gotta find my way out.**

**I'm hopeless…**  
_But hoping…_  
**My lungs won't fail me now, 'cause  
**_**I'm still breathing.**_

With the entrance of the chorus, all of the spotlights began to flicker around the stage, while the crowd broke out of their silence and began cheering.

**It's hard to be a man,  
but I'm doing all I can.  
I'm ready to give this all I have,  
I'm ready to be amazed.**

'_**Cause I'm standing here alone,  
trying to make this life my own,  
and nothing will keep this heart from beating,  
**_**I'm still breathing…**

Sora wasn't running around the stage like he had been doing during his last performance. This time, he was gripping the mike that was still attached to the stand, holding on to if for dear life as he continued to sing.

**Promise me some dignity if I were to stand and die here,  
'cause my heart is somewhere else…  
It's a pain I've never felt.**

**Time's racing**…  
_Please slow down…_  
**I've gotta find my way out.**

**I'm hopeless…**  
_But hoping…_  
**My lungs won't fail me now, 'cause  
**_**I'm still breathing.**_

**It's hard to be a man,  
but I'm doing all I can.  
I'm ready to give this all I have,  
I'm ready to be amazed.**

'_**Cause I'm standing here alone,  
trying to make this life my own,  
and nothing will keep this heart from beating,  
**_**I'm still breathing!**

**Where… Do we all find love?**

_Where… Do we all find love?_

Instead of running and dancing around the stage like he had done before, Sora seemed to settle for banging his head against the air in time with the music, which seemed good enough for the fans, who seemed to be eating up the emotion that he allowing to pour out through his voice. At this point, I couldn't help but realize that even though Sora never really _tries_ during our rehearsals, whenever he starts singing in front of a crowd, he'll do _anything_ to become a crowd pleaser.

I guess it's a part of him that'll always remain the same.

_**It's hard to be a man,  
but I'm doing all I can.  
I'm ready to give this all I have,  
**_**I'm ready to be amazed. **_(I'm still breathing…)_

'**Cause I'm standing here alone,  
trying to make this life my own. **_(I'm still breathing…_)  
**And nothing will keep this heart from beating,  
**_**I'm still breathing!**_

The song ended with a punch, and I found that there was a smile evident on all of our faces, which made the minute smile plastered onto my features widen.

But as soon as I glanced at my brother, the emotion quickly faltered.

Why… was Sora crying?

Hayner, Tidus, and Hope had already made their way offstage since they hadn't stopped to wait for him, and it seemed like the crowd was too busy cheering to notice my twin's tears. His face was scrunched up, the kind of face that someone makes when they're overcome with emotion and trying to stop the emotion from completely taking over.

Unfortunately, it looked like Sora was losing this battle with himself.

I immediately rushed to his side, putting my arm around his neck as I led him offstage.

"And that was Nonexistent! See? I _told you_ that you'd love them!"

* * *

"S-Sora? Are you okay?"

My chocolate-haired brother was stumbling clumsily in the direction I was leading him, before finally stopping to sit on an amp that didn't seem to be being used. The rest of the band had realized a few seconds after they left the stage that something weird was up with Sora, and now wavered behind me awkwardly, obviously as confused about the situation as I was.

I know that my brother had managed to stop his tears not too long ago, but interestingly enough, he kept his brown hair shadowing his face.

Maybe he was embarrassed? Was my brother that type of person?

I frowned, before crouching enough so that I would be on eyelevel with my brother. As I desperately searched his face for at least _some_ sign of life, Tidus cautiously continued to poke his limp arm. This continued onward for a couple of seconds, before my twin sporadically threw his head back, slamming it against the makeshift wall.

Luckily, it only trembled slightly against the sudden force.

However, the shrieks that came from the other side provided some evidence that Sora's brash movement had caused at least _something_ to happen. In the blink of an eye, several pouting women appeared before us, a majority of them with their eyebrows creased together in a mix of confusion and anger.

A certain blonde with frightening blue-green eyes stood in the front of the group, arms crossed angrily over her chest, "The hell was that for! ? You know that that's our makeshift dressing room, _right_?"

I felt someone come up behind us, and after a quick flickering of my gaze, I realized that Riku had finally managed to fight his way through the crowd and back towards us. "Calm down, Larxene. It was just an accident."

Her glare seemed to intensify as she got ready to grumble out a retort, but surprisingly Kairi—Yes, _Kairi_. You read that right—spoke before Larxene could do anything.

"S-Sora…"

At the mere mention of his name (or perhaps, it was _her _voice), Sora immediately sat up and looked in our direction.

Stormy blue met gentle violet.

He opened his mouth to respond, but no words seemed to form. At this realization, a look of frustration crossed his features, before he allowed his head to fall back onto the wall, making it tremble once more. At a loss for words myself, I allowed my gaze to meander towards Kairi.

It seemed that her and her band weren't even close to ready for their performance. Larxene and Selphie were both sporting plush robes, while Olette, Xion, and Kairi seemed to be comfortable in old sweats.

Immediately, I racked my brain for some sort of explanation, when it finally clicked: Kairi's band was so popular that they were chosen to be the big finale since the Organization figured that since everybody would want to see them, they'd all stay later than they usually would. At least, that's what Demyx told me.

How reliable that information is, I'll never know.

THE POINT IS, we virtually stood no chance against them.

Larxene still looked relatively annoyed at the whole situation, and had taken to forcibly moving Sora. I guess my brother was heavier than I thought he was, because after trying to push him off the amp for a while, the blonde haired vixen seemed to give up and settle for sitting on the half that wasn't occupied by Sora's butt.

Selphie, who had originally been just as pissed off as Larxene, seemed ecstatic as she excitedly turned her head back and forth from Kairi and Sora, obviously expecting something big to happen.

Xion and Olette seemed to be in their own little worlds, only remotely interested in what was going on between Kairi and Sora. From what I could tell, they were trying to avoid looking at any of us, but who knows how accurate that observation is.

At that point, a question finally muddled itself into my mind: Where the hell was Naminé? And Vanille? Weren't they supposed to be here?

But before I could ask anything, something pretty… _random_ happened.

Sora stood up, stumbled over to Kairi, fell to his knees at her feet while clutching her hand, and just full-on sobbed.

In that one moment, it was like nothing else existed. The aura changed dramatically to the point that we could barely hear the music blasting from the speakers. Kairi's eyes had widened significantly and she stared at Sora in minute disbelief. Tidus and Riku were looking at each other with incredulous, grinning expressions. Olette and Xion were looking at the two with wide eyes, but there were small smiles on each of their lips. Hayner's jaw had literally dropped to the floor, while Selphie was grinning from ear to ear, clapping lightly, and Larxene was awkward twitching her eye.

And yeah, I guess there was a little part of me that was happy that Sora was willingly interacting with the auburn-haired teen, but the majority of me was screaming, "WHAT THE HELL! ? MY BROTHER'S HAVING A FREAKING EMOTIONAL _BREAKDOWN_! HE NEVER HAD ONE OF THOSE IN FRONT OF _ME_!"

N-Not that I was jealous or anything….

AHEM.

After Kairi got over her initial shock, she awkwardly stroked his hair. At her touch, Sora's sobbing became more hectic and erratic, and at this, Kairi herself began crying. She fell to her knees as well, hugging him as though he was her only anchor to the entire world to gentle. In fact, he was holding on to her just as tightly.

They were suddenly a mess of pale skin, tangled limbs, and salty tears.

The smiles that were on the faces of the others hesitantly disappeared as they averted their eyes from the two individuals embracing on the floor, before Selphie muttered a, "Um… Let's go to another room?"

We all immediately nodded, not wanting to get in the way of the sudden reunion between the two teens, and promptly left the room.

* * *

All of us settled for meandering towards the large field behind the makeshift stage to sit in the freshly-mowed lawn. Sure, it was still super cold, but for some reason, it didn't feel as cold as it did before. I mean, my mind still _registered_ it as being cold, but my body didn't feel as uncomfortable as it did this morning. Sunset was just starting now, and the lovely shades of the various oranges, reds, yellows, pinks, and even purples illuminated the sky perfectly.

_Naminé_.

At the mere mention of her name, I felt myself perk up a bit. I looked around for a certain silver-haired boy, the only one that I felt could really provide any _reliable_ information as to the whereabouts of the blonde-haired teen. "H-Hope?"

Olette shook her head abruptly, "He left a while ago. Didn't you notice?"

I felt something inside in me drop, as I quickly whirled my torso around to face her, "He did? When?"

The green-eyed girl paused to ponder it for a moment, before she stated, "A little after Larxene spazzed on you guys, but before it got really awkward in the room."

At the mention of her name, Larxene shot daggers at her fellow bandmember, but the brunette seemed to pay no attention to it. I nodded slowly, before suddenly acting on random impulse, "All right, I'm going to go find him." I was met with mostly bored stares, or empty expressions as I stood up from the frozen ground. "Anyone wanna come with?"

It was silent for a moment, before Tidus and Selphie started some other random conversation about God knows _what_, and it clicked that no one really wanted to come with me.

I felt myself roll my eyes as I walked back towards the "arena."

_Tch. Who needs them anyway?_

* * *

The thing that sucks about looking for _one_ person in a gigantic _mess_ of people, is that… Well, it's kind of obvious, isn't it?

It's something that's practically_ impossible_. I don't really recommend it for anyone.

I had been searching for about fifteen minutes, and yet, I had found no trace of the specific teen. Exasperated, I allowed myself to throw my head backwards to let out a low groan.

"Uh… We're going to be having an intermission now… It wasn't planned, but… Well, you know. Boss' Orders. And you can't defy those. Especially when your boss is _my_ boss."

Demyx's awkwardness ended up coming off as completely adorable in the eyes of the girls in the crowd, which was obvious from the cooing in the audience. Seeing this, the blonde-haired man seemed satisfied as he jogged off the stage. It seemed that Axel had already left in advance.

Maybe it was my fate, or maybe it was just pure luck, but suddenly, a thought consumed me: Not this crowd, not the makeshift stage located behind the orphanage, but the actual orphanage itself. And before I allowed myself time to think it over, I felt myself turn on my heel and begin marching towards the general direction of The Land of Departure.

It didn't take that long, and once I got there, I easily threw open the door.

To find that it was empty.

I felt a small frown come upon my features, already moving to leave.

But before I could, I heard a sudden scream, followed by an immediate roar of anger and a low hiss.

Immediately, my eyes widened. My brain was screaming for me to get my ass out of there, but I guess my heart just wouldn't let me. It was clear where the noise was coming from in the otherwise empty building, and without another thought, I darted in that general direction.

After turning several sharp corners and running up two different flights of stairs, I had finally made it.

The commotion had become louder than ever, and since there was only _one_ door in the entire hallway, it was obvious where I needed to go next. Slowly, I walked closer and closer towards it, trying to do my best to ignore the incessant pounding of my heart.

In no time, I was standing directly in front of the doorway, my shaking hand resting on the doorknob to open the door. Thankfully, something possessed me to stop and look through the glass in the door first.

And the sight was…

Well, I'll let you finish that sentence for yourself.

From what I could see, the entire Organization (not including Larxene. Remember, she's not an actually member of it yet.) stood with the man called Xemnas at their head, each and every one of them cloaked in their trademark black coar. All of the members were armed with various different weapons, all pointed towards three individuals on the other side of the room. Most of their expressions were twisted with malice, or there was absolutely no expression on them at all. In all actuality, it seemed that a majority of them were find with killing off their enemies without a second thought.

And it looked like Axel was one of them.

Out of all the Organization members, only Demyx seemed to be wavering. The young man was shaking as he pointed an object that looked more like an instrument than anything towards the other side of the room. His eyes were wide, and I could see the sweat near his hairline.

I'm honestly not sure which half of the room surprised me more: The half with the entire Organization looking like they were ready to kill someone, or the half with Naminé, Hope and Vanille.

Yeah, that's right. _The Organization was pointing their weapons at Naminé, Hope, and Vanille_.

Naminé looked as though she was on the verge of tears as she clutched the heart-shaped locket around her neck. She was wearing a white pea coat with a white beanie pulled over her head. It seemed that she had been knocked down by something as she was on the floor. Hope and Vanille each stood on opposite sides of her, both of them taking protective stances. Hope had thrown off his coat to one side of the room, now sporting only a black sweater and his red scarf. Vanille was panting and seemed out of breath as she tried to stop the blood flow from her arm, still managing to maintain her protective aura. None of them were armed. Which scared me. A lot.

My body had run cold and I knew that I was trembling severely. Despite knowing that I couldn't just let something happen, I found myself backing away from the doorway with wide eyes. And I probably would've continued backing away until I was out of the entire Orphanage if I hadn't bumped into something on my way.

My heart stopped in that single instant.

"_Ven_! ?"

"No. It's just one of Hope's friends."

At the familiar voice, I felt part of me calm down. When I finally turned around, I was met with four new individuals, each one with gleaming weapons, probably getting ready to enter the fray as well.

Lightning stood at the head of the group, a shimmering weapon that I remembered was called a gunblade in her hand. Terra, Aqua, and Vanitas were close behind her, the three of them wielding strange swords.

It was obvious that they were getting ready to fight, but… for which side?

Aqua's eyebrows drew together as she whispered, "Roxas… Get out of the way."

My mind was screaming for me to get out of their way, but I… _couldn't_.

"_Roxas_."

I felt myself shake my head slowly.

At this, Vanitas stepped in front of the other three, a stony glare etched onto his face. He had a threatening aura surrounding him, which was only intensified by the pointed weapon he held in his right hand. "Move now. Or I'll cut you down myself."

"_Van_!"

Lightning shook her head softly, lightly nudging my brother's lookalike out of her way, "Listen, Roxas. If you don't move now, those _bastards_ are probably going to hurt Naminé."

_They're going to _help_ them._

I knew that I was still shaking, but I managed to sidestep out of their way. At this, a small smirk appeared on the pink-haired woman's features. Immediately afterwards, she led the charge down the hallway towards the door, the other three still following behind her. Before they had considerably neared the door, Aqua whirled around to face me with eyes that showed concern for my wellbeing, "Roxas, we'll straighten things out. Go back to the stage. We'll be there soon."

I opened my mouth to refuse her, but that look in her eyes made it practically impossible.

Before I completely registered what I was doing, I found myself running out of the orphanage.

* * *

When I had made it back to the backstage area where most of the others had returned, I collapsed onto the floor.

* * *

"_Roxas..."_

"_Is he okay?"_

"_Wake up, bro…"_

"_What… happened to him?"_

"_How long has he been out?"_

"_I'm kind of worried now…"_

"Roxas… Please…"

My eyes flickered open to the sight of several worried faces.

Including… _her's_.

"N-Naminé…?"

She looked startled for a moment, before a nervous smile appeared on her face, "You all right?"

Slowly, I sat up from my position on the ground, "Y-Yeah…"

Many of the people that surrounded me seemed satisfied at this and left almost immediately after the words left my mouth. But a couple stayed. Namely Sora, Hayner, and of course, Naminé. After looking around a little more, I spotted Hope leaning against the makeshift wall, still without his jacket despite that the night felt colder than ever, his silvery hair shadowing his features. As though he could feel the weight of someone staring at him, he looked up with a smile that looked incredibly forced on his features. "Glad to know that you're okay."

I nodded slowly.

_There was something… I needed to ask him something…_

I furrowed my eyes in confusion, trying to remember why I had so desperately been searching for him before.

And that was when the memory came flooding back.

My eyes widened considerably, as I practically screamed, "_Vanille_! I-Is she okay! ?"

Hayner and Sora looked at me curiously as the former muttered, "What are you talking about?"

I shook my head, "No… No… She was _here_. I _saw_ her."

Sora shook his head as well, "No, she wasn't, Roxas… Are you sure you're okay?"

I shook my head more violently this time, "No... I _know_ she was here. Right, Hope? Naminé?" My eyes immediately darted towards the two of them.

There was something unreadable in their eyes, and in Naminé's case, fear. However, Hope frowned at me as he stated, "From what I know, she's been at home the whole day with a fever."

I felt my insides run cold again. Because I _knew_ he was lying.

Hayner let out an awkward laugh, "Hey, maybe you hit your head a little harder than you thought."

The rest chuckled softly with him, while I said nothing.

_I… Didn't imagine the whole thing… Did I?_

"And for our final act of the night…"

"The band that we _all_ know everyone loves…"

_Those aren't Axel and Demyx's voices…_

"Kairi's band is on!"

I glanced at Riku, who was smiling now as he walked towards the wings of the stage to get a good look at the performance, quickly followed by a large mass of people. Sora glanced at me, a peaceful sort of smile on his face as he helped me up, "You sure you're all right?"

I forced myself to nod. There was no point in worrying Sora.

He walked with me towards the front of the group so that we could have the best view.

However, I still managed to hear Naminé worriedly murmur to Hope, "He… He couldn't _possibly_ have seen, right?"

* * *

"…And here they are, performing a cover of Breathe by Paramore!"

The crowd went crazy as Kairi's band took center-stage, before gradually dying down to allow them to start.

Except they never did.

In my band, we had this sort of unspoken rule: If you're playing an instrument, you don't start playing until you get the signal from your lead singer. Because awkwardness ensues when everyone's playing, but no one's singing.

So maybe Kairi's band had the same basic rules. All of the instrumental members were giving Kairi curious looks, save Larxene, who was impatiently glaring at the auburn-haired girl that stood center-stage.

Compared to their outfits for their last performance, what they were wearing was pretty simple. It was obvious that Kairi was the real star in this performance. Olette, Selphie, Xion and Larxene were each dressed in simple dresses that varied slightly in design, each ranging in colors between light gray to black. On the other hand, Kairi was dressed in a light coral strapless dress. The waistband was jeweled and when it caught the light, they were practically blinding. The skirt part of the dress seemed simple enough, but what made it look special was that there were sash-like ruffles that ran vertically down the waistline of the dress, short in the front, long in the back. Her auburn hair was pulled back from her face for the most part, only her bangs remaining. The rest of her hair had been rolled into large curls. Makeup was coated on her face, but this time, not that much. I assume that it was just a bit of foundation, blush, mascara, eyeliner, and lipgloss. Infact, she looked a lot like her old self…

I wonder how they managed to transform her so quickly.

I also wonder how _I_ managed to describe that dress. Like, seriously? This time, Selphie didn't help me. I did it _all by myself._

Oh yeah. Back to the important things.

Kairi squirmed uncomfortably under the single spotlight over her, before taking a deep breath, and tapping the mic on the stand before. Hearing the sound of her pokes through the microphone, she forced an awkward smile and laugh, "W-Well… I guess this is on then?"

The crowd seemed a little confused, yet they still laughed as though what Kairi had said was the funniest joke in the world. When they finished, the auburn-haired girl spoke, eyes downcast. "I know that a lot of people will be angry at me for doing this… Especially my bandmates behind me… But I feel like it's something I have to do… And I hope that everyone understands."

Her unique violet eyes raised themselves to stare at the crowd straight on, "The song I'm going to be singing is dedicated to a frien—" She stumbled over the word, trying to cover it up with a forced cough, "—A special person…"

As this left her mouth, her eyes widened considerably. It was obvious that she was going to try and change her wording once more, and she probably would've, but a member of the audience encouragingly yelled, "Get on with it!"

A blush rose to Kairi's laugh and she averted her eyes from the audience as a few members of the crowd laughed at the individual's blunt statement. "O-Okay… Um…" She twiddled her thumbs for a moment in thought, before letting out a heavy sigh, "You know what? I give up being shy over this. I'm just going to be blunt." She took a deep breath, and then focused her eyes on the mass of people before her. "I know that you're here somewhere, listening to me. And I know that you know who you are."

I felt an odd aura to my right, and turned to face my brother, who was staring at the woman on stage with wide eyes.

Yup, he definitely knew who he was.

"I can tell that you're obviously going through a lot right now, even though you haven't really said anything to me about it." She let out a forced laugh, "Hell, you barely even talk to me at _all_ nowadays." As she shook her head, a sad smile formed on her face, "But… I just want you to know that you're not the only one hurting inside. There are other people out there that are hurting just as much as you… and maybe even more.

"I know that changing song last minute isn't the best idea, _especially_ since I'm taking away a performance that my bandmates have been working hard to perfect for the longest time…" She paused, and turned to look back at the shocked expressions of the rest of her band before turning back to the audience to continue, "But, well… Here goes it."

Throughout her entire speech, the only part of the stage that had been illuminated was where she stood. As though she was finally realizing this, she fidgeted painfully, but then grabbed the microphone for dear life. She closed her eyes, probably to settle down her nerves. And I really couldn't blame her… Changing her song like this meant that her bandmates wouldn't have time to learn the sheet music… Meaning that her performance would be based on just _her_ vocals, and nothing else.

And that was probably the most nerve-wrecking thing in the entire world.

**Suppose that I missed you…  
Suppose that I care…  
And suppose that I spent all my nights running scared…  
And suppose… That I was never there…**

**And my eyes… Are screaming for a sight of you,  
And tonight… I'm dreaming of all the things that we've been through,  
And I can't hold on to you…  
So I guess I'll be lonely, too.**

Her eyes darted open as she seemed to gain more confidence on the stage, and she even began to sway to the tune that she was singing.

**Suppose we were happy…****  
****Suppose it was true…****  
****And suppose… that there were cold nights,****  
****But we somehow made it through.****  
****And suppose… that I'm nothing without you…**

**My eyes… I'm screaming for a sight of you…****  
****And tonight… I'm dreaming of all the things that we've been through…****  
****And I can't hold on to you,****  
****So I guess I'll be lonely too.**

**Slow way down…****  
****This breakdown's eating me alive…****  
****And I'm tired.****  
****This fight is fighting to survive…**

At this point, she raised her arms to the crowd, beckoning them to sing with her. Some of the ones who did actually did sing with her, and Selphie who seemed to be familiar with the song as well , finally took the time to sing into her backup vocal mic.

**Tell me a secret… **_(I want it)_**  
****Tell me a story… **_(I need it)_**  
****I'll listen intensively…****  
****I'll stay awake all night…****  
****All of me is a whisper **_(So don't leave)_**  
****There's nothing left in me **_(Please help me)_**  
****Not even my body is strong enough to fight **_(Let's make this right)_**  
****Please help me make this right…**

My eyes flickered to see what Sora was doing, _especially_ since it was incredibly obvious that she was singing this song for him. His blue eyes were still wide with an emotion that I couldn't exactly describe, and I wasn't really sure how he was feeling. Of course, I didn't have much time to decipher his expression, since Riku and Tidus took this opportunity to force my brother onstage, pushing him onward against his will until he was only a few feet away from Kairi, before darting off themselves.

Realizing that _he_ was who Kairi was singing the song to, the crowd whooped and cheered, and Sora found himself unable to move. Noticing that he was so close to her, Kairi took the microphone off the stand, and turned to sing to my brother. And now that she was facing my direction headon, I could make out the unshed tears that were glistening in her eyes as she continued to sing.

**Suppose that I was wrong…****  
****Suppose you were here…**

She slowly closed the distance between the two of them, so that she was looking directly up into his eyes now. Hesitantly, she raised her hand to touch his cheek, and I couldn't help but notice my brother flinch minutely at her touch.

**And suppose… that I reached out and caught your tears…****  
****And suppose… this fight just disappeared…**

As though she finally noticed my brother's small movement, she turned her head away from him, and dropped her hand from his face so that it returned to her side once more. She paused for a moment, and by the time she started singing again, her hand was clenched in a tight fist.

**And my eyes… are screaming for a sight of you…****  
****And tonight… I'm dreaming of all the things that we've been through…**

Sora awkwardly backed away from centerstage, his eyes still wide. The crowd was openly gawking at him for just leaving Kairi like that, but I pitied my brother. I still don't think that he was emotionally prepared for something like that.

And that was proven to me when he returned to my side, trembling.

**And I can't hold on to you…****  
****So I guess I'll be lonely too…**

Kairi paused once more, turning her head slightly so that she could just see Sora over her shoulder. A single tear slid down her cheek, as she whispered the final line of the song:

**But I'd rather be here… with you.**

* * *

Needless to say, it was _extremely_ awkward after that performance as we all patiently waited for the results to be revealed. When we had all thought that Sora and Kairi were finally going to make up after their ridiculously long fight, the only outcome we got was for their relationship to only _increase_ in awkwardness.

So it wasn't too surprising when Kairi was nowhere to be found while the rest of us remained in the lounge room that had been reserved for us.

"I'm surprised that none of you are upset about Kairi's sudden decision for a song change."

It was Larxene who responded with a mild shrug, "To be honest, I was never really into the whole band thing anyway. It was mostly for her."

All eyes immediately turned to look at her with shocked expressions. "_Larxene_! ? Being _nice_! ?"

Her blueish-green eyes narrowed into slits, "Shut the hell up, Tidus."

Laughter sounded throughout the room, and eventually casual conversation started up again, which I couldn't help but find hard to believe.

Still, my eyes found themselves staring directly at Hope and Naminé, who were isolated from the rest of the group, and seemed to be in deep conversation about something.

And that _something_ was probably about what _really_ happened in the Land of Departure.

I shifted my eyes momentarily to Sora, who was still lifelessly staring at a wall, before making up my mind.

I stood up, and walked over to the two.

Immediately, their conversation came to a stop.

The two of them stared at me with unreadable expressions, obviously waiting for me to say something.

I scrambled for proper words in my head, but all that I managed to come up with was, "Uh… Hi."

Automatically, one of Hope's eyebrows raised itself as he muttered, "Yeah. Hey."

Before I knew what I was doing, I felt the words tumble out of my mouth, "I want to talk to you guys. About what I saw tonight. At the Land of Departure."

As soon as the words left my mouth, I mentally facepalmed myself.

_Damn. I'm such an idiot_.

Naminé's eyes widened considerably at my words, while Hope's expression darkened. I felt my heart beat fast, something in me telling me that I had _not_ gotten myself into a good situation.

"Look, Roxas—"

He never got to finish. Because at that moment, Xemnas, leader of the Organization decided to begin the announcing of the results. His voice boomed through the speakers located throughout the area, "All bands, report to the stage. It is time to find out who has advanced to the next round."

* * *

It was shocking for many of us that Xemnas had suddenly decided to take over as MC.

Throughout the entire competition so far (which I'll admit, isn't much to go by), he had stayed on the sidelines. And if I remember correctly, he hadn't even shown _up_ to the first round of the competition. Infact, there were only a few members of the Organization onstage… I struggled to name each one of them for a few moments, but it eventually clicked:

Xigbar. Xaldin. Saïx.

This was _especially_ strange, since those three hadn't shown up to the first round either.

Still, I stood there with the rest of my band, along with all the other bands that had also performed.

Name by name, he announced which bands would be moving on to the next round.

It wasn't that shocking when Kairi's band was called, and the crowd cheered the loudest for them.

"The final band that is moving on… Is Nonexistent."

I blinked in surprise, but cheered along with the rest of my bandmates, jumping up and down in excitement. The crowd was cheering, but not nearly as loudly as they had cheered for Kairi's band. Although, that was probably because Sora was in our band. And after Kairi's performance and his reaction to it…

Yeah. That explained it.

"Oh. What's this?" We stopped, turning to look at the head of the Organization. His amber eyes were widened it was obviously fake shock as he continued, "That seems to be my mistake. Nonexistent has been disqualified."

Even though we weren't really one of the crowd's favorites, they joined us in our shock.

"W-_What_! ?"

"_Disqualified_! ?"

The members of the Organization only smirked in our general direction.

No… Not just in our general direction… At someone specifically.

My eyes darted to Hope, whose expression was unreadable.

But it was obvious that he glaring at them.

Lightning, Aqua, Terra, and Vanitas appeared at that moment, stepping out from the wings of the stage, though this time, Terra was at their head. "Xemnas, on what grounds are they being disqualified on?"

The Organization leader's expression turned into a bored one as he carelessly stated, "They interfered during another band's performance. And I believe that that is enough to be eligible for disqualification."

Terra's eyes narrowed as he continued his parade towards the Organization members. The rest of the workers from the Land of Departure stayed put, the same expression as Hope plastered on each one of their faces.

Except Vanitas. Who looked openly pissed.

The brunet young adult was suddenly right in Xemnas' face, speaking in a hiss low enough that the crowd couldn't hear it, but loud enough that I could make out a bit of it, "Don't let what happened… They're just…. We made an agreement…"

Xemnas shoved Terra, lightly enough that it didn't cause an uproar, but harshly enough to intensify Terra's glare. The amber-eyed man let out an eerie laugh, a large smile still on his face, "Why does that matter? _I'm_ leader of The Organization, which is sponsoring all this. _I_ can make whatever call I want."

Terra looked as though he was about to strike him, but Xaldin stepped in front of his leader, easily grabbing Terra's wrist and stopping the blow.

The crowd's murmurs had escalated, and it was obvious that they were just as confused as I was.

However, Xemnas made his way to center-stage again, and all eyes were on him and his sickening smile, "Now… Let's see what happens next…"

His eyes darted to one of the wings of the stage hungrily, and I immediately followed his gaze.

_Naminé_.

* * *

**A Wishful Thought: **Damn. This is longer than I thought it would be, and it's already one o'clock in the morning. -_-;;

So yeah, this is being published unedited. XD

I don't own the songs "Still Breathing by Mayday Parade" and "Suppose by Secondhand Serenade."

LMFAO TO THE RAPIST-LIKE XEMNAS AT THE END. XD

Really don't have much to say in this note. But it's probably because I'm tired. AND I NEED REST FOR MEGACON.

Me and my bestie made Team Rocket outfits. XD

ANYWAY! Please make my day and review. :3


	17. Tales Begin to Unfold

**A Wishful Thought: **OH. MY. GAWD. It is currently 9:04. I was working on updating Never Let Me Go, another one of my fanfics that I haven't updated since January.

That is, until I realized what today was.

NOT ONLY IS IT ROKUNAMI DAY, BUT IT IS ALSO THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THIS HERE STORY. O_O HOLY CRAP.

Okay. I don't have time to freak out. I have three hours to write this.

LEGGO.

BUT BEFORE I START, I'd like to thank:

**Versivalia, Oblivion Fantasy, GH, Twin Toshiro, Sookdeo, Lucid Stupor, , Someday's Future Dreamer, Rescued-Doll, Namine Memory Angel, **and **Victoria5624**.

You guys are awesome. :)  
And I'm sorry that I haven't even taken the time to respond to all your reviews. Life gets in the way you know? ._.

**Disclaimer: **Nope. I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I would've remembered about RokuNami Day sooner. D:

* * *

"W-WHAT THE HELL, MAN! ? That's not fair!"

"Xemnas! Let them be! It's not like we're upset about Sora coming up onstage while Kairi was singing! There's no need to disqualify them!"

"YEAH!"

"KEEP THEM ON BOARD!"

"WE WERE FINALLY GETTING SOME DRAMA HERE!"

The Head of the Organization still had that catlike smirk plastered onto his features, and he remained oblivious to the furious protests that surrounded him.

His eyes were set on a certain blonde.

Noticing this as well, Hope roughly shoved his way past the man, practically stomping his way to the opposite side of the stage, where Naminé hid in the wings.

I'm not sure if I imagined it, but it seemed like he muttered something while he made his way past him.

I probably did, since Xemnas didn't have much of a reaction at all.

But he did do something that sort of frightened me.

His devious amber eyes flickered towards me.

And the smile on his face seemed to intensify.

* * *

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: Tales Begin To Unfold

I'm not going to lie to anyone.

I was damn scared.

And kind of hurt, since we made it to the next round, but then randomly got disqualified.

And more than a little confused.

The only thing I was really sure about was that I needed a slice of cake.

I had woken up much earlier than I usually did. In fact, it was three forty-two in the morning.

But no matter how hard I tried to go back to sleep, it was like I just _couldn't._ Thoughts continued to swarm me incessantly.

Sora and Kairi. What the hell was _really_ going on with them?

Olette… She's staying in the Orphanage now, right?

Was… Was Zack even _safe_ right now?

Then there's that whole fiasco with Naminé, Hope, Vanille, and the Organization. Sure, Lightning, Aqua, Terra, and Vanitas stepped in. But how much did they actually accomplish?

How the hell did they even get _weapons_ like that?

What was even worse was the fact that I couldn't get Xemnas' face out of my head. Those creepy orange-ish eyes… that mischievous smirk…

I felt the shiver involuntarily run down my spine, and forced the thought away.

_Forget about it. Forget about it. Forget about it._

Before I knew it, I had jumped out of my bed, and was hurrying to the fridge.

When I got there, for some reason, I was out of breath.

I closed my eyes in a lame attempt to calm myself down, and grabbed the sides of the refrigerator as though it would stabilize me.

I'm seventeen. All of this stress, _plus_ all of the stress from my shitload of Advanced Placement classes, was _way_ too much for a seventeen year old to handle.

_So just stop thinking._

I let out a breath that I didn't even realize I was holding and opened the fridge, wincing at the sudden overflow of light.

When I finally got over it, I immediately scanned the fridge for something to cease my late-night (or rather, _early morning_) cravings.

And when I saw it, I couldn't help but smile.

There was an adorable, miniature, fudge covered cake with a strawberry on top in a cute little pink box, sitting in the middle of our fridge.

Awh, shucks. The Cake God was surely smiling upon me.

So of course, I couldn't stop myself from smiling back.

Because even when life sucks, you can always count on sugary confectionaries to be there for you, right?

Carefully, I picked the sacred box out of the fridge, before gingerly setting it on the counter. Since the only source of light in the kitchen was gone, I meandered towards the light switch, easily flicking it on. When that was done, I grabbed a fork, sat criss-cross on the counter, and opened the box to start eating the cake.

It had looked amazing enough when I could only see _part_ of the cake through the box, but now that the box was fully _open_, it looked too _perfect_. To the point that I wasn't even sure if I should be eating it. You know, since I didn't want to be messing with perfection and all.

I honestly did debate with myself on whether or not I should put the cake back into the box.

But then, a little (though _extremely_ masculine) voice in my head whispered, "_No, Roxas. Don't do that. You _need_ this cake right now. You _deserve_ this cake._"

I nodded slowly, still pondering it over.

And only a few seconds later did I stab into the cake, before hungrily stuffing a piece of it into my mouth.

I mean, when tiny, masculine voices start speaking to you, it _definitely_ means that you have to listen to them, right?

Besides. This cake right here? It was a gift from the Cake God himself. Or…. Herself.

I'm not sure. I've never actually met the Cake God before. He/She/It (who knows? It could be a god in animal form) just leaves me gifts through my refrigerator.

Which _obviously_ had to be the portal to heaven.

Damn. What was this cake doing to my mind?

I blinked for a moment…

Then shrugged it off and continued eating.

The answer was so obviously clear to me: Cake is my drug.

Softly humming to myself now, I pulled the phone out of my hoodie pocket, subconsciously tapping on the Facebook icon.

I only had to read a few status updates before it dawned on me.

I dropped the fork, and the cake fell out of my mouth while my jaw dropped.

I'm lucky I didn't fall and hit my head on the tile below.

How could I forget that today was Valentine's Day?

* * *

My mind was still racing after I cleaned up the mess.

Holy shit.

Holy _shit_.

I'm not a romantic. I get that.

Hell, I don't even have a girlfriend to be romantic _for_.

But I had a love interest, right?

And that's pressure enough.

The feeling of dread within me worsened as my eyes meandered towards the partially eaten cake still sitting on the counter.

Was… Mom planning to give that to someone?

Or…. Or was _Sora_ planning to give that to someone?

My eyes widened, and I had the sudden urge to slam my head against a wall.

HOW. COULD. I. BE. SUCH. AN. IDIOT?

I took a couple of deep breathes, before looking around to see if anyone had woken up.

Nope. The coast seemed to be clear.

I hit the unlock button on my phone to check the time.

It was a little out of four.

I…. I could go out to buy stuff and be back before anyone even noticed I was gone, right?

I nodded slowly as I thought the plan over. Yeah… It could work…

If there were actual _stores_ open around this time.

And if I had actual _money_ to spend.

I felt my insides drop as the panic continued to spread throughout my body.

I was so screwed.

But I had to at least _try_ and fix this mess.

So with that, I rushed into my room to grab my practically empty wallet, my skateboard, and a pair of sneakers, before darting out of the house in my pajamas.

* * *

It was darker than I expected.

And it had dawned on me how slow my skateboard really is.

And that I needed a car.

But I didn't allow myself to give up.

I ate that cake, which had to have _some_ romantic value to one of the members of my household, so I had to replace it.

I mean, I _did_ enjoy living after all.

But not giving up is a lot harder than they make it seem in movies. In movies, it's obvious that the character _can't _give up. That no matter how much they _want_ to give up, they just _can't_.

And everything works out for them in the end.

The thing is, my life isn't a movie.

I was going on the pure goodness of my heart here.

It was my heart that was keeping me from giving up.

All of a sudden, I saw it.

The answer to my prayers.

I'll be honest: It wasn't much to work with. It was one of those shops that also doubled as a home. As in, the bottom half was a store, while the top half was a residential area. Sure, the store was pitch black.

But I could still see a single light on in the residential half of the building.

It was my only hope.

I picked up my skateboard, and knocked on the door, my heart beating fast.

No response.

"No… No, c'mon….This can't be happening…"

My heart was beating faster, and my eyes were wide.

But I kept knocking.

Harder, harder.

Faster, faster.

Over and over.

I wouldn't stop. I _couldn't_ stop.

Until I suddenly flashed to a memory of myself as a child: Ringing the doorbell to my house. Repeatedly.

The thought caused me to stop. Because I remembered what was supposed to happen next.

That scene. That _horrible_ scene of what my father had done. What my _terrible_ father had done.

Love doesn't exist.

_Why are you trying to kid yourself, Roxas?_

Before I was even aware of what was happening, I dropped to my knees at the base of the door, head bowed in shame as tears leaked out of my eyes.

_Why are you deluding yourself? You're just letting yourself get swayed so easily?_

_Your whole life, you've decided that love couldn't possibly be real. Some girl comes along, and all of a sudden, you change your mind! ?_

_You don't actually "love" her. You don't feel _anything_ of the sort for her._

_You just want to figure her out._

"W-Why…?"

I clutched at my hair, nearly ripping it out.

"… am I here?"

And suddenly that memory that I had thought I had stopped from playing continued to play.

And what scared me was that what I _thought_ was supposed to happen, _didn't _happen.

In that memory, the door opened to a man… that looked eerily familiar… He wore a sad smile and tears were streaming down his face, along with strange clothing. He kneeled down on one knee so that he was at my height, and opened his arms. Sora, who was suddenly next to me, turned to give my younger self a worried frown, before grabbing my hand and leading me towards the man.

And he hugged the two of us, sending an indescribable warmth through our younger bodies.

My mother was there as well. She was crying, too.

Pretty soon, the five of us were crying.

But then these… _men_… these _armed men_ came…. Pulling us apart…

_W-What's… going on! ?_

My eyes were shut, and yet my eyebrows had come together in confusion.

"I… I don't…"

Suddenly, the door in front of me opened.

All I registered was a frustrated face that quickly changed into a sort of worried confusion before I blacked out.

* * *

When I woke up, sunshine had was already flooding the room.

"Yes. Yes, I understand. Just cover for me for a little while longer… I need to take care of this…"

I blinked until I regained my focus.

I was in a bed.

And I was shirtless.

And there was a _really_ attractive woman standing a couple of feet away from me, looking out a window.

I couldn't stop myself from groaning.

How the _hell_ do I end up in these kinds of situations?

The woman, hearing my groan and thereby realizing that I was awake, turned to face me, a cell phone in her hand. "I… I'll call you back." With that, she tapped something on her phone to end the call, before gently resting it on the windowsill. She crossed her petite arms, before leaning against the wall. "Soooo… Am I allowed to know who you are?"

I could do nothing but stare at her, not knowing what to say.

Hell, I couldn't even remember how I _got_ here.

Despite the fact that she was pretty much talking to a stranger, there was still a trace of a smile on her kind, heart-shaped face. Her hair was long and black, but there were a few streaks of light brown. She had bangs that she had brushed to the left side of her face, leaving her bright brown eyes out for everyone to see. She was dressed in a simple dark blue (or maybe just black?) tight-fit dress, with some sort of blue cardigan over it.

"I… Um…"

She sighed, before running a hand through her hair, "C'mon, kiddo. Your parents are probably looking for you by now. At this rate, I'll be charged with kidnapping!"

Obviously, this woman was friendly enough. I mean, she _seemed _friendly enough.

"I… I'm Roxas."

Her brown eyes blinked at me for a second, before a full-blown grin lit up her features. "There we go! That's a good start!" She quickly made her way to the side of the bed I was in and sat down. "Now, go on. Why'd I find you on my doorstep at around four thirty in the morning?"

I felt my eyebrows furrow as I struggled to remember.

I had woken up and couldn't sleep… Then I left the house to try and find something… I remembered crying on this doorstep… but _why_?

The image of a strikingly familiar man suddenly flashed into my vision.

For some reason, the sight of it made me feel like throwing up.

The woman's eyes widened, and she immediately jumped back, "W-Whoa… Are you okay there?"

My heart was beating in my chest uncontrollably, as I struggled a non-convincing, "Y-Yeah…"

The woman obviously didn't believe it, but she said nothing. She simply turned on her heel to walk towards the bedside table, picking up the partially-filled jug of water, and pouring it into a half-empty glass. When it was full enough for her, she sat back down on the side of the bed, offering it to me.

I took it warily, as she said, "My name's Rinoa."

I gratefully drank the water, before nodding in response.

"Now, seriously. I'm kind of wondering if I should be calling the police or something…You're not a runaway, are you?"

I shook my head slowly, trying to piece together my thoughts.

Who… Who was that man? I feel like I know him somehow…

Where did that memory come from? I'm almost positive that Sora and my mom didn't belong in that memory.

_Sora and my mom_.

I gasped. _The cake._

My eyes flickered to the busy street below.

_It's too late._

I felt my heart sink. "No…"

Rinoa frowned, "You okay?"

I clenched my fist together, trying to retain my composure, "No… No, I messed up really badly."

The worried look on her face seemed to intensify, "Oh no… No, no, no…" She stared at me intently for a while, before whispering, "You didn't… _kill _anyone did you?"

My eyes widened in horror at the claim, "No, of course not!"

She quickly let out a sigh of relief, and her expression seemed to become more relaxed. "Then it can't be _that_ bad."

I hung my head in shame, "No, you don't understand… It's Valentine's Day, isn't it?"

She sighed sadly, before lightly whispering, "Yep… It is."

I looked up at her curiously, but she waved it away with a light laugh, "It's nothing… Just a bad breakup… Me and this guy, Seifer… We were together for a really long time, but…" She let out another sigh, before averting her gaze. "I-It's okay, though. I've made a new friend, and he's really helping me through it…"

I'm not going to lie: Even though it was obvious she was sharing something sort of private with me, I couldn't bring myself to really listen to her.

I was too busy freaking out over what I was going to do.

Perhaps she noticed my lack of attention, because she suddenly changed the subject back onto me, "What's your story?" There was nothing but pure curiosity in her eyes.

And so, I told it to her.

All the parts she needed to know, anyway...

Rinoa rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "I… I think I can help you out there…" She nodded slowly to herself, before grinning at me, "No, of course I can help you out!"

She picked up my hoodie that I hadn't even noticed was at the foot of the bed, before tossing it to me. Noticing my curious stare, she giggled, "When I found you on my doorstep, you were practically drenched in sweat. Don't worry, I promise I'm not a pedophile or anything like that!"

I couldn't help but laugh along with her as I pulled the dirty hoodie over my head.

"I'm ready to go when you are."

* * *

I'm not lying when I say that Rinoa is the scariest driver ever.

I mean, I was _this_ close to peeing in my gym shorts.

Still, she easily swerved into a parking spot at the "Three Fairy Bakery," and quickly hurried me into the shoppe.

She had remained in the car, because she needed to answer a phone call, but she had given me enough munny to buy a replacement for the cake I had eaten this morning.

As I waited in line, something caught my eye.

It was a simple necklace. White gold. The pendant shaped like the sort of heart a little kid would draw, outlined in the normal kind of gold.

It reminded me so much of Naminé.

"Next!~"

I blinked, realizing that it was my turn to order.

"I… Uh… How much is that necklace?"

The kind old woman behind the counter blinked in surprise, before murmuring a price.

I looked down to count how much munny Rinoa had given me, along with the munny I had managed to keep in my own wallet.

And through my calculations, I realized that I only had enough munny to either by the necklace or the cake.

* * *

It took me a while, but I think I made the right decision.

* * *

"Hey, good luck, you hear?"

I nodded in thanks, before managing a smile.

In response, Rinoa unleashed one that was enough to rival Sora's. "I hope we meet again sometime!"

"Yeah, that would be cool."

Her grin seemed to widen as she waved and drove out of the school's drop-off zone.

She had taken the liberty to write me an excuse letter, though it wasn't very convincing _or_ believable. She had written something about her dog getting stuck in a tree (which I'm _pretty_ sure is a cat thing), and about how she was freaking out, until I came along and saved her dog.

But then got stuck in the tree along with it.

I didn't want to tell her about the lameness of her excuse note, since she seemed to be in a rush.

So I had to deal with what I had

I slowly walked towards my fourth period, AP Calculus, praying that Mr. Squall would take the excuse note and not bite my head off.

But chances of that were slim.

I took a deep breath outside the door to his classroom, before forcing myself to open the door and allow myself in.

Immediately all eyes were on me.

I noticed the worried stares of my friends quickly morph into confusion, but tried to ignore it.

"Why are you so late?"

I allowed myself to gulp, before shakily handing him the excuse note that Rinoa had written.

He read it skeptically: his disbelief of the note was written all over his face.

But when he got to the end of the note, his eyes seemed to widen.

Which was _weird_. Because practically _nothing_ gets Mr. Squall to show that level of emotion.

Carefully, he set the note on his desk, before muttering, "You know Rinoa?"

I blinked at his question, before managing to nod slowly, "Um… Yeah."

He looked at me for a moment, before glancing back at the note on his desk. "Alright, take your seat. I'll have your first, second, and third teachers excuse your absence."

I couldn't help but stare at him surprise.

He… He was actually going to _excuse_ me?

After that _horrible_ excuse note?

He shot me a challenging look, that made a shiver run down my spine.

So I decided to let it drop, and quietly took my seat.

* * *

"Yo! Roxas! What happened to you?"

"Bro, I thought you had gotten yourself killed or something!"

"Yeah! Especially after Sora said that he couldn't find you this morning!"

_Sora_.

My older twin still had a concerned expression on his features as he pushed through the small crowd of confused individuals around me, "I need to talk to you, man."

I allowed my brother to lead me towards the less crowded area of the hallway, waiting for him to speak as he stared at me intently.

It took a while for him to say anything at all, and when he did, it was obvious that it was meant to be spoken in a scolding tone, but it just came off as Sora not wanting to admit that he was worried sick, "Don't you ever pull something like that again, you hear me?"

I managed a small smile, before returning his hug.

"It's a promise."

He returned my small smile partially, but not all the way. "Where were you this morning anyways? I covered for you with mom, but…"

I let out a small sigh, before pushing the pink box in his general direction, "I ate that cake you had in the fridge this morning. And I felt like I needed to replace it."

Sora blinked in confusion at my words, before carefully saying, "I… Don't know what you're talking about…"

I felt a piece of me break.

"W-What are you talking about? You were going to give this to Kairi, weren't you?"

At this my brother's eyes widened, and he averted his gaze as light pink began to coat his cheeks, "I-I didn't get anything for her… And I still don't know what cake you're talking about."

I didn't know what to think.

And I didn't know what to say either.

Sora seemed as confused as me for a moment, before he snapped his fingers in sudden realization, "Oh, it must be Mom's! She has one of those every year on Valentine's Day."

I couldn't help but blink in surprise. I had never noticed anything like that before. "Who does she give it to?"

Sora cocked his head in thought, before shrugging, "Not sure. Cloud, maybe?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, his expression, and mine as well, fell.

Because whenever you think of Cloud, you think of Zack.

"Do… Do you think he's okay?"

Sora frowned, "I… I hope so…."

"What do you think—"

My brother shook his head to interrupt me mid-sentence. "Let's not talk about it, all right?"

I felt my frown deepen as I shot him a curious look, but he merely shook his head, before walking in the general direction of my locker.

Not knowing what else to do, I jogged to catch up with him.

But not before noticing the sad look Cloud was giving us.

* * *

After gingerly setting the cake into my locker, Sora and I headed out to eat lunch with the crew in the garden area, which had pretty much become our permanent eating place.

They hadn't put the picnic-bench status tables back yet, but they hadn't kicked us out either.

It didn't really matter to me, I was content.

I took my seat in the awkward gap between Hayner and Olette, who kept looking at each other nervously.

Sora sat beside Hayner and Riku, who was holding hands with Xion. The two were smiling widely, and on the other side of Xion, sat a giant, stuffed bear, with a light blue ribbon tied around its neck. So, yes. I _apparently_ had missed something big this morning.

Tidus was in between Rikku and Yuna as usual, fiddling with something in his backpack nervously.

Selphie was practically trying to _rape_ Irvine with her clothes on, and the poor dude looked more than a little creeped out. Kairi awkwardly sat next to the two, quietly poking at her salad.

Hope, Vanille, and Naminé were sitting on the other side of the garden, quietly talking about something together. It felt like the three were doing their best to keep as much distance from me as possible, which was a little… depressing.

Still, for the past couple of weeks, Vanille has been wearing nothing but sweaters.

Then again, that might not actually mean much, seeing as its still winter and all.

But nowadays, I guess you have to be suspicious of everything.

I managed to catch Naminé's attention though, but not for very long.

It felt long though.

Her stare managed to morph from worried, to content, to confused, to sad, all in a span of about five seconds.

With a sigh, I turned my attention back to Olette, who was absentmindedly picking at the crust on her sandwich, before turning to Hayner, who was trying to be secretive about the fact that he was awkwardly staring at Olette absentmindedly pick at the crust on her sandwich.

I stared at the latter in pure exasperation, before bluntly stating, "It's Valentine's Day, dude."

My friend only blushed before muttering a halfhearted, "Yeah. I know."

"You should grow a pair."

"I will, after you do."

I felt my eyes narrow at him, which only made him smirk, "I know what I'm doing."

I could do nothing but roll my eyes, "Yeah, of course you do."

My attention was brought away from Hayner, when I felt Olette lightly nudge my ribs, "I just thought I'd let you know that you smell like shit."

Both Hayner and I felt our eyes widen.

Did Olette seriously just curse?

"W-What…?"

The auburn-haired girl simply shrugged, "Just thought I'd let you know. Especially since Naminé's on her way over here right now."

I awkwardly choked on my own spit, while Hayner cackled in laughter, and Olette shot me an encouraging smirk. "Don't worry. I've got this." She quickly dug around in her bag for something, before pulling out a familiar bottle.

"Oh God. No thank you."

Seeing what Olette was holding, only made Hayner laugh harder.

It was a bottle of Victoria Secret's Pure Seduction.

Which she happily drowned me in.

As I coughed and wheezed and tried to get fresh air into my lungs, I tried to stumble towards Naminé to at least attempt to meet her halfway.

But that didn't work out so well.

Because she stopped partway when a sudden figure walked up to Hope.

And punched him right in the face.

* * *

I didn't even realize that Hope was the type of guy who would easily get into a fistfight until that very moment.

It was like the kid barely even registered the fact that he had just gotten punched squarely in the face. Because almost immediately after the punch, he kneed the invader in the crotch.

The man (it must've been a man, if he reacted to being hit in the crotch) gasped out in pain, wincing away from the silver-haired teen. He was clad in dark jeans and a black hoodie, with the hood pulled over his face, covering most of his features.

Most of the girls were freaking out at this point and most of the guys had no idea what they should do.

"I told you just to get out of here while you had the chance! Now look at what a mess you've made!"

That voice…

As recognition dawned on me, I felt my heart sink.

Hope's expression was grim as he narrowly dodged another blow aimed at him, but he was unable to dodge the uppercut that he received.

Vanille, who at first seemed too shocked to make a move, darted up from her seat, raising her arm to throw a punch at the hooded fellow.

However, the man easily caught her arm, twisting it enough so that she shrieked in pain.

And through the twisting, her sleeve was pushed up enough to reveal the undeniable proof of a scar.

"S-Stop it!" Namine shrieked, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

For a moment, the masked man did.

"And _you_…. This is all because of _you_…." The figure snarled furiously as he pushed Vanille to the ground, pulled out what seemed to be two flat disks, one for each hand, and dashed towards the defenseless girl

As he pressed a button on each disk, deadly spikes revealed themselves, making it obvious to us all that this wasn't a normal high school brawl.

If you hadn't figured that out already.

But before he actually reached her, two sudden figures, each clad in the same dark clothing appeared, though with their hoods off.

Demyx and Larxene.

The two looked more than a little disappointed, and on Larxene's case extremely upset.

The tough, nothing-can-touch-me Larxene was on the brink of tears.

It was their sudden appearance in front of Naminé that forced the figure to stop.

"I… Didn't believe them when they told me what you were going to do."

The figure clenched his weapons tighter, slowly raising it against the two before him, "Get out of my way… You don't understand."

"I don't understand because you won't _let_ me understand!"

The figure flinched at this.

Demyx, who had been silent for the most part, quietly spoke up, "Wise is on his way, you know…."

The hooded man froze, before angrily snarling, "You _told_! ?"

Demyx frowned, and averted his eyes away from the figure before him. "Of course I did. Though I wish I had gotten here sooner."

"Don't you understand what they'll _do _to you! ?"

The usually merry man did nothing but sadly shake his head, "I still have my weapon. I can defend myself if I need to. You can, too."

"Sir! Over there!"

The figure had made no move at all, and seemed practically frozen in place, ignorant to his impending capture. "You… You don't get it!"

Tears had managed to escape Larxene's greenish-blue eyes, as she whispered, "You didn't give me the chance to try…."

"THEY HAVE MY FAMILY!" As he screamed the words, the hood finally fell off, revealing large, red spikes.

I was right.

_Axel_.

Both Larxene and Demyx looked caught off guard by this statement.

"Hurry!" I turned my attention momentarily to see Pence and Selphie hurrying towards the scene, Principal Ansem not too far behind.

Slowly, Demyx walked up to the now sobbing redhead, carefully setting a hand on his shoulder. "Get out of here."

Axel raised his confused, wide eyes toward his usually immature friend, obviously not believing the words he was saying.

Demyx's eyes narrowed, "_Now._"

The pyromaniac opened his mouth as though to say something, but nothing came out. However, when Larxene hesitantly pulled him into a hug, ripping her hoodie and jeans slightly because of the weapons Axel was still wielding, it was like the situation had finally settled into him.

Without another word, he sheathed his weapons and darted away from the scene, though he kept looking back.

And based on the tears that remained on the pavement after he left, it was clear that the Axel we had all known was hiding something far darker than any of us could have imagined.

* * *

No matter what any of us said, we couldn't stop the police from taking away Larxene and Demyx.

Hope and Vanille had been transported to the infirmary, while the rest of us awkwardly waited outside the principal's office as we each took turns for questioning.

I didn't know how to feel.

And I didn't know what I should be saying when it was my turn to be called into Principal Ansem's office.

So when it was my turn to talk, I said nothing. Nothing at all.

* * *

Ansem wasn't happy. Not in the slightest.

But it was hard for me to really give a damn.

It was hard for me to _register_ what had just happened.

I think it was difficult for all of us.

We quietly sat in the Gym, not participating in any of the activities, no matter how hard Yuffie begged.

Eventually, she just gave up.

Why were all of these things happening to me? Why _now_? Nothing was making sense. There was no explanation—

"_And you…. This is all because of you…."_

Axel's words resonated in my head. And the truth of them weighed heavily on my shoulders.

It was true. Everything had been so perfect until Naminé had shown up.

Did that mean that this was somehow all her fault?

Or… Was this all somehow connected?

Everything bad that was happening out of nowhere… Did it all tie back to her?

My eyes flickered to her, who was lifelessly staring at the ground.

_Who… Who exactly is she?_

* * *

"Hey, Mom. Sorry about eating your cake this morning. I got you a new one though."

"I… Was wondering where it had gone…." She forced out a sad laugh, "I had thought he had forgotten…"

I stared at her in confusion, "W-What do you mean?"

She smiled sadly at me, "I get one every year, on this date, from your father. After all, today is the anniversary of when it all changed."

* * *

**A Wishful Thought: **Awh, man. ._.

It's currently 2:34 A.M. I'm tired. I'm sorry, but this is being published unedited. :c

I had told myself that I somehow wanted to throw in some Namixas fluff in here for their special day, but it just didn't happen. ToT

But I did bring in a bunch of plot points out of nowhere. O_O

Does that count for something? XD

Heehee. Details are more than a little important, knowwhatimsayin'? ;D

I'm sorry that this chapter is kind of short. I do hope that you all enjoyed it though! Please leave all your comments in a review. They really do make me happy!


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